IN BRIEF (Page 16)

SA platinum output falls

South Africa, the world's largest producer of platinum, posted a 19 percent decline in October output of the metal and related ones including palladium and rhodium after lower prices forced producers to shut mines.

The value of platinum group metal sales fell 22 percent to 6.3 billion rand ($834 million) in September from a year earlier, Statistics South Africa said on its website yesterday. Sales data lags production by a month.