T he w eight ed a v er age r and pric e of the f our major c ommodities gold PGMs c oal and ir on or e appears t o ha v e had little ef ect on mining pr oduction see adjac ent gr aph T his is mainly o wing t o the err a tic supply of electricity and other s tructur al c ons tr aints Despit e the lack of a r esponse in pr oduction nominal sales impr o v ed due t o the impr o v ed c ommodity pric es which ha v e pr o vided some r eprie v e but is not sus tainable in the longer t erm f or the viability of the mining sect or In time c ommodity pric es alw a y s c orr ect and the poor fundamentals underpinning the sect or will c ontinue t o c ons tr ain it Mining c os ts R elentles sly rising mining input c os ts ar e a further thr ea t t o the sus tainability of the sect or T he C omposit e c os t inde x gr aph illus tr a t es the same pric e tr aject ory f or South A frican c ommodities and its r ela tionship t o c os t escala tion o v er the same period T he Miner als C ouncil es tima t es tha t input c os t infa tion f or the t otal mining sect or w as 84 in 20 19 35 per c entage points abo v e the na tional a v er age pr oduction infa tion T he gold sect or r ec or ded the highes t input c os t infa tion a t 10 5 in 20 19 see the Input c os t escala tion gr aph As a c onsequenc e of the impr o v ed c ommodity pric es the c omponents indica ting the highes t r a t es of c os t infa tion w er e in f act mining and Commodity prices versus production 2010201 9 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Production index 2015100 Rand commodity price changes 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 10 20 30 95 97 99 10 1 Commodity price changes Input cost inflation Rand commodity price index and nominal sales Nominal sales R million Rand commodity price inde x 55 000 5 0 000 45 000 4 0 000 35 000 3 0 000 25 000 2 0 000 15 000 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 Jan 07 Jul 07 Jul 08 Jan 08 Jul 09 Jan 09 Jul 10 Jan 10 Jul 11 Jan 11 Jul 12 Jan 12 Jul 13 Jan 13 Jul 14 Jan 14 Jul 15 Jan 15 Jul 16 Jan 16 Jul 17 Jan 17 Jul 18 Jan 18 Jul 19 Jan 19 Nominal sales Rand commodity price inde x Composite cost index 20102019 Rates of change 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1 0 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 Commodity price changes Input cost inflation Northam Pla tinum Boo y sendal Sour c e Miner als C ouncil South A frica Sour c e Miner als C ouncil South A frica Sour c e Miner als C ouncil South A frica P age 11 MINERALS C OUNCIL SOUTH AFRICA INTEGRA TED ANNU AL REVIEW 20 19