Martin Kadzere
Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S volume of mineral exports jumped 27 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the same period last year despite a challenging global commodity market, latest official figures show.
The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), which handles the sale of all minerals except gold and silver, facilitated the disposal of about 2,4 million tonnes of minerals valued at US$1,395 billion between January and June.
Last year MMCZ sold about 1,9 million tonnes during the first 6 months valued at US$1.56 billion.
Mining is strategically important to Zimbabwe’s economy, accounting for around 12 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
The sector also accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s exports.
Zimbabwe is rich in several key minerals, including platinum group metals, gold, chrome and diamonds.
This comes as President Mnangagwa recently commended the growth of the country’s mining sector.
“I want to commend mine workers throughout the country who continue to make an important contribution to the economy. The growth of the mining sector since 2018 from a mere US$2.8 billion industry to the current levels of close to US $12 billion has positively contributed to the overall growth of our national GDP. Congratulations to the mining sector,” he said
“The Second Republic, since its inception, has always been about accelerated development, production, productivity, and the realisation of economic prosperity and a higher quality of life for all the people of Zimbabwe. This agenda remains on course despite the climate change induced drought that we are currently experiencing in our country and indeed the SADC sub-region,” the President said.
Mining has benefited from the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1 2021-2025), which seeks to drive the beneficiation of five key minerals, gold, platinum group metals (PGMs), chrome, diamond and coals to enhance socio-economic development.
The Government also approved the establishment of 10 national priority areas that will guide development and implementation of the National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2) in line with the aspirations of Vision 2030 of transforming Zimbabwe into an upper middle-income economy.
The NDS2 is an economic blueprint to complete the second five-year medium-term development plan, riding on the success of NDS1.
While overall mineral export volume increased during the half-year period, the total sales value saw a marginal decline.
This was mainly due to subdued markets for ferrochrome, lithium, and rough diamonds, which were impacted by reduced activity in the downstream industries.