On July 20, foreign media reported that Zambia's copper production will drop by more than 10% this year to the lowest level in 14 years, which will deal a major blow to the income and economic growth of the southern African country.
Copper production will fall to 682,431 tonnes, the finance and state planning ministries said in a report this week. Copper production accounts for more than 70% of export earnings. That would be the lowest level since 2009 and mark the third year in a row that output has fallen since peaking in 2020, even as gold prices remain elevated.
The downturn will weigh on growth, which the Treasury expects to slow to 2.7% this year from 4.7% in 2022. In the first half of this year, mineral royalty income was only 23% of the target. It is yet another hurdle to the government's ambition to boost annual output to 3 million tonnes by 2031.
The drop in copper production comes as Zambia struggles to restructure its external debt, becoming Africa's first pandemic-era sovereign default since 2020. Last month, it struck a breakthrough deal with bilateral creditors led by China and France to revise a $6.3 billion loan.
A report released this month by the International Monetary Fund said weather-related shocks and lower copper revenues, including shortfalls in production, were the biggest risks to the Zambian economy. The government of President Hakainde Hichilema has struggled to find a solution for two large copper miners after his predecessor clashed with their owners and sacked them. take over.
The IMF said resolving the problems at Mopani Copper Mines Plc and Vedanta Resources' Konkola Copper Mines could "significantly boost copper and cobalt production", the latter of which has been in provisional liquidation for more than four years. Mopani has struggled since the government bought it from Glencore Plc more than two years ago through a state-controlled company.
Canada's First Quantum Minerals Ltd. accounts for more than half of Zambia's copper output.
Zambia's Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development did not respond to a request for comment.
微信扫一扫打赏
