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Mining production has decreased by 9.6% year-on-year for February 2025.
The latest economic wrap-up for April 2025 from StatsSA shows a mixed bag, such as year-on-year declines in sectors including mining, manufacturing, and road passenger transport and increases in sectors including electricity generation, passenger rail transport, and income from tourist accommodation.
Mining continues deep declines
Mining production saw a drastic 9.6 percent decrease for February 2025 compared to February last year, which was driven mainly by lower production in platinum group metals. Most other minerals performed poorly except for copper, manganese ore and other minerals which recorded positive gains. Mining activity declined by 4.4 percent in February 2025 when compared to the previous month in January, which was the largest monthly decrease since February 2023, when mining production weakened by 6.6 percent in one month.
Manufacturing takes a knock
Manufacturing production contracted by 3.2 percent for February 2025 compared to the same month last year. StatSA reports that this decline can be attributed to the declines in the automotive & petroleum, chemicals, rubber & plastics divisions. Motor trade also took a sharp year-on-year decline for February, managing to decrease by 5.2 percent, which was driven by lower fuel sales. On the other hand, used vehicle sales increased in this period, but not enough to turn the tide to overall positive growth for the sector.
Sectors showing positive gains
More electricity was generated in February 2025 compared to last year, a marginal increase of 0.4 percent, after the electrifying 5.7 percent increase seen in January. Passenger journeys by rail increased by a dramatic 46.7 percent compared to last year, increasing income from passenger rail by 16.1 percent.
Retail trade sales increased by 3.9 percent year-on-year for February 2025, with four of the seven retail groups recording a positive month, driven mostly by gains in the textiles and clothing, and general dealers sectors.
Infographic | Year-on-year economic indicators
StatsSA Indicators April 2025 by SABC Digital News
Infographic | Month-on-month economic indicators
StatSA April 2025 by SABC Digital News
