Mon, 29 May 2017 12:01:30 +0000
BY MAILESI BANDA
THERE has been a 0.8 percent decrease in the total value of metal exports from K4,720.53 million in March to K4,681.00 million in April 2017, director of census and statistics John Kalumbi has announced.
Mr. Kalumbi said the overall contribution of metals and their products to the total export earnings in March and April averaged 77.51 percent.
He explained that non-traditional exports recorded a decrease of 29.0 percent from K1,606.31 million in March to 1,140.08 million in April 2017.
He said the share of non-traditional exports recorded an average of 22.49 percent in revenue earnings between April and March 2017.
He said in the period under review the volume of copper exhibited a steady increasing trend with a minor decrease in April 2017. “The highest volume of 88.066.07 metric tonnes was recorded in March while the lowest volume of 86,915.84 metric tonnes was recorded in January 2017,” he explained.
He said the corresponding price of copper on the London Metal Exchange had registered a steady increase between January and February 2017 from US $5, 737.43 per metric tonne to US $5,941.55 per metric tonne.
Mr Kalumbi explained that in March the price declined to US $5,821.52 per metric tonne with a further decline of US $5,697.67 per metric tonne in April 2017.
