Mining production unexpectedly contracted in October. Mining output shrank 2.9% from a year earlier, Statistics SA said on Thursday, compared with September’s revised 4.7% growth and coming in much worse than expectations of slower, but still positive, growth of about 2.6%. September’s figure was revised higher from the previously reported 3.4%. "Mining and manufacturing production have been restricted by relatively muted global economic activity and persistently weak domestic demand," Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan wrote ahead of the release of the data. Manufacturing production data are due out later in the day. The two sectors together account for about a fifth of SA’s gross domestic product. GDP growth for the third quarter came in at a slower than expected 0.2%, Stats SA said on Tuesday. Mining and quarrying grew by 5.1%, largely due to higher production in the mining of iron ore. Manufacturing was one of the four industries that contracted during the third quarter. Manufact...
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