(Adds analyst, CEO comment, shares) JOHANNESBURG, Sept 1...

(Adds analyst, CEO comment, shares)

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd IMPJ.J (Implats), the world's No.2 producer of the white metal, narrowed annual losses to 70 million rand ($4.77 million) thanks largely to cost cuts.

Implats, along with rivals Lonmin LONJ.J LMIJ.J and Anglo American Platinum AMSJ.J , is still recovering from a 2014 strike that cost the industry billions of dollars in lost output and damaged the viability of some mines, leading to job cuts.

Implats said its net loss narrowed to 70 million rand in the year to end June compared with a loss of 3.66 billion rand a year earlier.

"The company has struggled to show material improvement from the impact of the 2014 strike but this performance shows that it is slowly and painfully moving in that direction," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Sterck in London.

Shares in Implats jumped over 13 percent to 63.85 rand as of 0947 GMT, outpacing a 5 percent gain in the JSE platinum index .JPLAT .

As part of efforts to respond to a weaker platinum price -- down about 40 percent from its 2013 peak -- and boost profit, Implats last year launched a cost-cutting programme that included scaling back on capital expenditure and reducing staff.

The company said that those efforts saved it 1.4 billion rand this fiscal year, well ahead of its stated target of 930 million rand.

Platinum production increased 13 percent to 1.44 million ounces thanks to a robust performance by its Zimplats (ZIM) unit in Zimbabwe, which lifted output by more than 50 percent.

Production in South Africa was hampered by an underground fire at Implats' key Rustenburg operation which killed four workers and caused extensive damage to conveyor infrastructure.

It wiped out 39,000 ounces in 2016 and is expected to cost another 45,000 ounces in 2017 as full mining capacity will not be restored in the affected areas before March.

Nevertheless, outgoing chief executive Terence Goodlace said production in 2017 was expected to rise 4 percent to 1.5 million ounces.

The industry has been in wage talks with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) trade union, which led the 2014 five-month strike and is demanding wage hikes of up to over 50 percent.

Goodlace said talks so far show that AMCU was "quite reasonable" in some of their demands. "The demands that were submitted are very different from what was submitted in the past and I'm hopeful that we can reach a sensible outcome."

($1 = 14.6700 rand)