S African mining production drops 4.8% y/y in Sept

As local headline mining production growth slipped back into negative territory, falling 4.8% year-on-year in September, the sector probably entered a technical recession in the third quarter, which will be confirmed when production-side gross domestic product figures are released on November 24, BNP Paribas Cadiz Securities said on Thursday. Economist Jeffrey Schultz noted that the decline was unsurprising, considering the rising pressures in an industry which continued to grapple with falling global commodity prices, weak demand and faltering productivity.