BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
ZAMBIA’S Non Traditional Exports (NTEs) increased by 11.3 percent in June with agricultural products taking a lead.
The country’s NTEs include sugar, cotton, coffee, soybeans, maize and tobacco, among others.
NTEs increased by 11.3 percent to K2, 519.7 billion in June 2020 from K2, 263.3 billion in May 2020, says Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) Interim Statistician, Mulenga Musepa.
He said this last week in Lusaka through ZamStats Assistant Director for economics, Joseph Tembo, when announcing the Monthly Bulletin for July which was took place via webinar.
“During June 2020, Agricultural NTEs increased by 68.8 percent while Non-Agricultural NTEs decreased by 5.6 percent.
“Agricultural products accounted for a share of 34.6 percent of Zambia’s NTEs in June 2020 compared to 22.8 percent recorded in May 2020,” Mr Musepa said.
He explained that the export earnings from Agricultural products increased by 68.8 percent from K515.7million in May 2020 to K870.6 million in June 2020.
He indicated that the major export commodities were ‘Other raw cane sugar’ accounting for 21.8 percent, ‘Tobacco, not stemmed/stripped’ (17.1 percent) and ‘Groats and meal of maize corn’ (6.0 percent).
Mr Musepa said Non-Agricultural products accounted for a share of 65.4 percent of Zambia’s NTEs in June 2020 compared to 77.2 percent recorded in May 2020.
“The export earnings from Non-Agricultural products recorded a decrease of 5.6 percent from K1, 747.7 million in May 2020 to K1,649.1 million in June 2020.
“The major export commodities were ‘Bullion semi manufactured forms (Gold)’ accounting for 6.8 percent’, ‘Portland cement (excl. white) ‘ (6.0 percent) and ‘Other non-alcoholic beverages’ (5.9 percent),” he said.
