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We take a look at the latest mining production and sales figures for November 2018. We take a look at the physical volumes of goods mined as well as the value of sales of various mineral products. The commodities that will be looked at are:
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Year on year growth rate in volumes of commodities mined
The line chart below shows the year on year growth rates in the volume of goods mined for:
- Coal
- Iron Ore
- Platinum Group Metals (PGM)
- Gold
Platinum group metals for example recorded growth rates of well over 30% during the last two years, as well as year on year growth rates showing negative growth of almost -25%. The same can be said for Iron Ore. While Coal had a maximum year on year growth rate of just over 10% and the biggest decline in year on year growth rate was close to 10%. So the range of growth rates are far narrower for Coal than it is for the other commodities in this comparison.
While quantities of commodities mined is one thing, the total value of mining sales is another story. Prices fetched on the open market for commodities tend to vary wildly, especially based on the quality of the commodities sold. Coal is a prime example, where better quality coal would fetch much better rates than poorer quality coal. So quantities minded is one thing, but international prices and quality of what was mined makes a huge difference to total value of mining sales. The chart below shows the year on year growth rates in mining sales for the four commodities showed in the graphic above.
While quantities of commodities mined is one thing, the total value of mining sales is another story. Prices fetched on the open market for commodities tend to vary wildly, especially based on the quality of the commodities sold. Coal is a prime example, where better quality coal would fetch much better rates than poorer quality coal. So quantities minded is one thing, but international prices and quality of what was mined makes a huge difference to total value of mining sales. The chart below shows the year on year growth rates in mining sales for the four commodities showed in the graphic above.
So while Iron Ore showed a year on year decline in volumes mined of -19.7%, the value of mining sales of Iron Ore increased by 47.7% year on year. Clearly the prices fetched for Iron Ore increased sharply during this period. In November 2018 the four commodities looked at in this article recorded the following value of sales in November 2018:
- Coal: R13.67 billion
- Platinum Group Metals (PGM): R10.7 billion
- Iron Ore: R5.86 billion
- Gold: R4.96 billion