BY BUUMBA CHIMBULU
OVER K14 billion worth of export earnings from refined copper was realised by November, 2021.
This is due to an increase in volumes of copper exported be- tween January and November 2021 by 19.1 percent to 86,800 metric tonnes from 72,900 metric tonnes, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency statistician General, Mulenga Musepa.
According to Mr Musepa, Zambia’s copper export earn- ings from refined copper in November ,2021 increased by 24.9 percent to about K14.7 billion from almost K11.8 bil- lion in October .
“Despite the price of copper on London Metal Exchange (LME) decreasing by 0.1 per- centage point to US$9,765.5 per tonne in November, 2021 from US$9,778.5 per tonne in October the country recorded an increase in earnings,” Mr Musepa told Journalists re- cently.
He however stated that the volume of refined cop- per exported for the period January to November, 2021 was 822,000 metric tonnes
compared to 854,000 metric tonnes the same period last year.
This, according to Mr Musepa, represented a 3.7 per- cent decrease.
Meanwhile, Mr Musepa said Zambia’s Non-Traditional Export (NTEs) increased by 1.0 per cent to K4.23 billion in November 2021 from K4.19 billion the previous month.
In terms of share in total exports, NTEs accounted for 22.4 per cent of total export earnings in November 2021.
Mr Musepa indicated that agriculture products account- ed for a share of 31.7 percent of Zambia’s NTEs in November 2021 compared to 27.9 per cent in October 2021.
He pointed out that ex- port earnings from agricul- tural products rose by 15.0 per cent to K1.3 billion in November 2021 from K1.2 billion in October 2021.
Mr Musepa said the ma- jor export commodities were Tobacco, partly or wholly stemmed/stripped accounting for 13.9 per cent, maize seed and oil- cake of soya-bean.
“Non-agricultural prod- ucts accounted for a share of 68.3 per cent of Zambia’s NTEs in November 2021 compared to 72.1 per cent in October 2021.
“Export earnings from non-agricultural products recorded a decrease of 4.5 per cent to K2.9 billion in November 2021 from K3.0 billion in October 2021,” he stated.
Mr Musepa indicated that the major export com- modities were Ferro- sili- co-manganese accounting for 10.8 per cent, Sulphur of all kinds, and other non-alcoholic beverages,” he said.
