The Rapid Assessment Report of Value Addition and Diversification Within and Beyond the Critical Energy Transition Minerals Value Chain has revealed that Zambia has a 1.4 billion United States Dollar potential export value.
This is from over 400 products identified in the assessment, funded by the Japanese government and carried out by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) across 25 sectors where the country can diversify.
Speaking when he officiated at a report presentation meeting, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga has disclosed that more than 30 000 jobs have been created in the value – addition sector, in the country within the last four years.
He added this is because the government has invested in five new copper processors within the last four years.
Mr Mulenga explained that this is in line with President Hakainde Hichilema’s vision to shift the country from focusing on mineral extraction to value addition.
“In the fertilizer sector, we have created 10 000 jobs. In the copper processing sector, we have created more than 7000 jobs. In the steel industry we have created more than 1000 jobs, in the starch plant, more than 1000, in the Pharmaceutical industry, more than 2000 jobs” he noted.
The Minister, however, acknowledged that lack of value addition has kept Zambia rated as a developing country, a situation that has affected the country’s ability to access capital globally.
He has since appealed to the international community to support Zambia’s policy shift from extractive to value addition in order for the Country’s grading to change.
Earlier, UNCTAD Secretary General, Rebecca Grynspan, disclosed that Zambia currently spends 229 million United States Dollars on imports that the country can produce locally.
Ms Grynspan explained that out of the 400 products from 25 sectors, identified for diversification, 73 are directly linked to energy transition mineral value chains.
She noted that downstream copper products such as bars, rods, tubes, and electrical conductors were a clear opportunity for diversification, since Zambia already smelted and refined copper.
Ms Grynspan added that industrial chemicals, including fertilisers, copper sulphates, and carbonates, offered another avenue, as they connect mining directly to agriculture.
“And the good news is that Zambia does not start from zero. The Eighth National Development Plan, the economic zones, the technical education system, the Zambia Development Agency, these are real institutional assets. This report connects them to specific products, specific markets, and specific investment opportunities. Think of it as a GPS for industrial policy”, she explained.
Meanwhile, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Beatrice Mutali noted that the opportunities identified in the assessment could generate over 100,000 jobs across the economy if effectively implemented.
” For Zambia, a country richly endowed with critical minerals, this moment presents a strategic opportunity, not only to supply global demand, but to strengthen domestic productive capacity, create jobs, and build a more diversified and resilient economy”, Ms Mutali stressed.
