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Zambia’s non-traditional exports (NTEs) declined 21.7 percent in January 2026, while traditional exports (TEs) rose 1.7 percent, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStat).
Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, Acting Statistician General, Sheila Mudenda, said NTE earnings fell from K9 billion in December 2025 to K7.1 billion in January 2026.
In contrast, traditional exports earnings increased from K20.2 billion to K20.5 billion over the same period, representing 74.3 percent of total exports.
Refined copper, a key traditional exports, saw export earnings increase by 7.3 percent to K20.2 billion, with volumes rising to 78,100 tonnes from 72,800 tonnes in December 2025.
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange rose 10.9 percent to US$13,088.9 per tonne in January 2026.
Among NTEs, agricultural products accounted for 23.1 percent of exports, down from 27.1 percent in December, with earnings falling 33.3 percent to K1.6 billion.
Major agricultural exports included maize flour (10.4 percent), tobacco (9.6 percent) and other corn seeds (8.1 percent).
Read more : Zambia reports decline in annual inflation to 9.4%, as trade surplus hits K1 billion.
Non-agricultural NTEs made up 76.9 percent of NTEs, with earnings declining 17 percent to K5.4 billion.
Key products included nickel ores and concentrates (17.8 percent), zinc concentrates (10.2 percent) and sulphur of all kinds (7.4 percent).
Overall, intermediate goods, mainly copper anodes and electrolytic copper cathodes, accounted for 84.3 percent of total exports in January 2026.
Raw materials made up 9.9 percent, while consumer and capital goods together accounted for 5.7 percent.
The top five export destinations accounted for 82.7 percent of total export earnings.
Canada led with 33 percent, followed by China (15.1 percent), Switzerland (12.6 percent), Singapore (11.3 percent), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (10.7 percent).
Copper anodes were the primary export product to most destinations, except for the DRC, where sulphur accounted for the largest share.
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