The mining and quarrying industry of Jamaica put up a somewhat subdued performance in the June quarter, reported Statistical Institute of Jamaica. The final arbiter on national output Statin stated in its report that "reduced activities at the Noranda Bauxite plant in Jamaica" was responsible for this lowly performance. Noranda Bauxite's reduced activities, in turn, were a comprehensive fall-out of the reduced demand for bauxite from the United States of America.
Ironically, however, bauxite mining industry's underperformance came to light at a time when the overall economy grew 1.4 per cent - an estimate more robust than initially reported. Statin's growth estimate eclipsed Planning Institute of Jamaica's forecast of 1.1 per cent growth by 0.3 percentage point.
The national statistical agency in its report said the goods GDP expanded by 3.3 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year and services GDP by 0.8 per cent.
The overall economic output was valued at $432.94 billion based on current market prices in the last quarter, which was marginally lower by $433.58 billion recorded in the March 2016 quarter. It however outperformed the $408.45 billion estimate for the same period previous year, according to output values published on Statin's website.
The June 2016 quarter generated $189.3 billion of value, based at constant pr
