ZAMBIA’S BULK EXPORTS HEAD TO THE SWISS MARKET
ZAMBIA’S major export destination in June this year was Switzerland which accounted for 47.9 percent of the total export earning for Zambia, &entraO 6tatisticaO 2̇ce (CSO) acting Director, Goodson Sinyenga has said.
Mr Sinyenga said the main export to Switzerland was copper anodes for electrolytic refining, accounting for 69.1 percent of total export earnings from that country, followed by cathodes and sections of cathodes of refines copper at 23.3 percent.
He was speaking in Lusaka when he announced the annual inflation rate for -uly and the launch of the preparations for the second generation National Strategy for the Development of Statistics (NSDS).
In terms of export market share by selected regional groupings, Mr Sinyenga said Switzerland was the largest accounting for 47.9 percent.
Mr Sinyenga said Asia was the second largest market for Zambia’s total exports, accounting for 30.7 percent last month.
“Within this grouping, China was the dominant market with 49.4 percent. Other notable markets in this grouping were Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and India,” he said.
In June, Mr Sinyenga said, copper exports increased by 15.8 percent at 92,097.8 tonnes from 79,514.6 tonnes exported in May.
He said copper prices on the London Metal Exchange market for the corresponding months increased by 2.0 percent, to US$6,954.79 per tonne from US$6,821.76 per tonne.
“Since copper accounts for the largest weight/proportion of traditional exports, any change in the volume and price/value has a direct bearing on the performance of traditional exports,” he said.
Mr Sinyenga added that Zambia’s major export products last month were from the intermediate goods category, mainly comprising copper anodes for electrolytic refining and cathodes of refined copper, accounting for 87.0 percent.
He said export from consumer goods, raw materials and capital goods categories, collectively accounted for 13.0 percent of total exports.