2020 Copper exports rose K13 bn gained in traditional exports – ZamStats

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE volume of Zambia’s refined copper exports for last year between January and December increased by 11.9 percent compared to 2019. Interim Statistician General at the Zambia Statistics Agency, Mulenga Musepa, said the volume of refined copper exported for the period January to December, 2020 was 931,052 metric tonnes compared to […]

2020 Copper exports rose K13 bn gained in traditional exports – ZamStats
BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE volume of Zambia’s refined copper exports for last year between January and December increased by 11.9 percent compared to 2019. Interim Statistician General at the Zambia Statistics Agency, Mulenga Musepa, said the volume of refined copper exported for the period January to December, 2020 was 931,052 metric tonnes compared to , 832,218 metric tonnes recorded in 2019. Mr Musepa explained that this represented an 11.9 percent in the volume of commodity exported during the year 2020. The copper prices on London Metal Exchange for the corresponding months increased by 5.4 percent to US$7,755 per metric tonne in December, 2020 from US$7,063 per metric tonne in November, 2020. He also said Traditional Export (TE) earnings increased by 2.5 percent to K13.0 billion in December, 2020 from K12.7 billion in November, 2020. “In terms of share in total exports, TEs accounted for 79.3 percent revenue earnings in the month under review,” Mr Musepa said during a virtual press briefing in Lusaka. Mr Musepa also said Non-Traditional Export (NTE) earnings decreased by 9.1 percent to K3.4 billion in December, 2020 from K3.7 billion in November, 2020. He said the NTEs accounted for 20.7 percent share of total exports in December, 2020 Export earnings from refined copper in December, 2020 increased by 4.3 percent to K12.2 billion from K11.7 billion in November, 2020 He indicated that agricultural products agricultural products accounted for 27.9 percent of Zambia’s NTEs in December, 2020 compared to 29.7 percent in the previous month. Mr Musepa said export earnings from agricultural products decreased by 14.7 percent to K0.9 billion in December, 2020 from K1.1 billion in November, 2020. “The major export commodities were, Tobacco, not stemmed/stripped accounting for 18.2 percent, raw cane sugar (10.5 percent) and oil-cake and other solid residues, of soya beans,” he said. He also said non-agricultural products accounted for a share of 72.1 percent of Zambia’s NTEs in December, 2020 compared to 70.3 percent in November, 2020. Mr Musepa said export earnings from non-agricultural products also recorded a decrease of 6.7 percent to K2.4 billion in December, 2020 from K2.6 billion the previous month. “The major export commodities were Portland Cement accounting for 8.5 percent, non-alcoholic beverages,” he said.