The seasonally adjusted index for iron ore dropped by 6.7pc to 94.6 in the March-May 2021 period against the December-February 2021 period, according to Statistics South Africa. The seasonally adjusted index of the volume of mining production for iron ore was 101.7 in March, 93.3 in April, and 88.9 in May.
Total mining production fell by 3.5pc in May 2021 compared to the previous month but increased by 5.6pc in the 3-month calculation against the previous 3-months and grew by 21.9pc against the same month a year ago. Iron ore grew 48.4pc in May 2021 compared to the same year-ago month.
Mineral sales at current prices rose by 88.2pc in May 2021 against the same year-ago month with iron ore sales growing by 116pc. Seasonally adjusted mineral sales fell by 3pc in May 2021 against the preceding month.
The copper index rose by 2.1pc to 38.8 seasonally adjusted production index in March-May 2021 compared to the previous three months. Other non-ferrous minerals climbed by 9.6pc to 102.7 in the seasonally adjusted production index in March-May 2021 compared to the preceding three months.