KINSHASA: Copper output in Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa's top producer, hit 268,393 tonnes in the third quarter of 2016, a 0.6 percent increase over the same period last year, the central bank said on Monday.
However, total output of 734,643 tonnes for the first three quarters was still down nearly 10 percent compared with 2015, the bank said in a monthly report, due to low prices that led some mines to suspend production.
Production of cobalt, the metal used in lithium-ion batteries and of which Congo is the world's leading producer, slipped 0.8 percent to 21,493 tonnes in the third quarter and is down 9 percent so far this year, the bank said.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange lost 25 percent of its value in 2015 but has recovered most of those losses this year, closing trading last Friday at $5,879. The price is still sharply off record highs above $10,000 a tonne touched in 2011.
Despite the recovery, falling tax revenue from the mining sector has hammered Congo's economy, which derives about 95 percent of its export earnings from the mining and oil sectors.
The government slashed its 2016 budget by 22 percent in June and has also cut its annual growth forecast from 9 to 4.3 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.