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· The Zambian economy has posted an increase in cumulative trade volumes by about 83% in 2021 compared to 2020, indicating that the economy was slowly starting to rebound
· The cumulative total trade volumes recorded for the period January 2021 to April 2021 was K114.4 billion. The total trade volumes recorded in 2020 for the same period was K62.5 billion, an increase of 83%
· Zambia has recorded another consecutive trade surplus of K10.2 billion in April 2021 compared to a trade surplus of K7.4 billion in March 2021
The Zambian economy has posted an increase in cumulative trade volumes by about 83% in 2021 compared to 2020, indicating that the economy was slowly starting to rebound. The cumulative total trade volumes recorded for the period January 2021 to April 2021 was K114.4 billion. The total trade volumes recorded in 2020 for the same period was K62.5 billion. This is an increase of 83%.
Significantly, Zambia has recorded another consecutive trade surplus of K10.2 billion in April 2021 compared to a trade surplus of K7.4 billion in March 2021. This was an increase of 38% which has been attributed to an increase in exports. Exports increased by about 17% to K22 billion in April 2021 from K19 billion in March 2021 riding on the back of an increase of 23% earnings from copper which has seen better international prices. The volume of refined copper exported for the period January to April 2021 was 314.2 thousand tons while that of 2020 for the same period was 280.5 thousand tons, an increase of 12.0 percent.
Traditional Exports (TE’s) earnings (non copper exports) increased by 24.0 percent to K17.7 billion in April 2021 from K14.2 billion in March 2021. The major export destination in April 2021 was Switzerland, which accounted for 44% of the total export earnings. Singapore was the second main export destination accounting for 17.6 percent of the total export earnings. Major export product was copper anodes. It was followed by China and Congo DR.
