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It has emerged that the savings from buying fertilizer produced locally by Government may not be that much as the final price agreed falls short of the huge savings that had been earlier anticipated.

Government through the Ministry of Agriculture has disclosed that the two contracted companies will supply D-Compound Fertilizer under the Farmer Input Support Programme – FISP for 2023/2024 farming season at USD 880 per ton.

In September 2021, UCF had told the Zambian Business Times that “the Wonderful group would build a large fertilizer plant that will cut the importation of fertilizer for Zambia by about 60% and reduce the cost of fertilizer by about 40% due to use of local raw materials and economies of scale”. See link… https://zambianbusinesstimes.com/new-300m-fertilizer-plant-to-cut-prices-by-40/

Two firms, United Capital Fertilizer – UCF & Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia – NCZ are to supply D compound Fertilizer at the price of $880 per ton.

The Ministry of Agriculture has disclosed that UCF and NCZ have been contracted through direct bidding for the supply, delivery, warehousing and distribution of 120,380.25 metric tons of compound D fertilizer for the 2023/2024 farming season.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT – Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary (PS) Green Mbozi, when asked if it is now cheaper to locally source the compound D fertiliser compared to a time when it was being imported, the PS said, “it is very difficult to tell because we don’t just look at the price on a one on one basis, we look at other factors. When you are producing locally you also create jobs and other businesses benefit as suppliers, so those are the things we look at, the one to one price comparison is just one of the issues.

“The periods and conditions are different and the time we were landing fertilizer a bit cheaper and what has happened is that prices now have come down in dollar terms but because of other fundamentals such as the inflation exchange rate, the prices in Kwacha terms have not come down but all in all we can say it is beneficial to have our fertilizer produced locally because of the jobs that are created.” He said. 

When further told that ZBT had received concerns that the contract was in US dollars which would defeat the benefits of local sourcing and forex saving, Mboozi said, “I think normally that is an issue you can discuss with treasury, I think the suppliers want to protect themselves against fluctuations exchange rates. The payments will be made in Kwacha, it’s just that we have pegged the contract pricing in dollar but the payment will be in kwacha at the exchange rate that will be prevailing at the time of payment.”

On measures that his ministry has taken to ensure that no sub-standard fertilizer is distributed, Mboozi assured the nation that the fertilizer has good quality which has been approved by Mount Makulu, UNZA and other private institutions which have tested the fertilizer.

On the total fertilizer bill for the 2023/2024, the PS stated that they have not yet concluded the procurement for the top dressing Urea, so “once we do that by mid-July we should be able to tell”.

NCZ has been contracted to supply over 43,292 metric tonnes while United Capital Fertiliser is earmarked to supply over 77,087 metric tonnes of  ” D”  Compound  Fertiliser for the 2023/2024 farming season.

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It has emerged that the savings from

Mining

Zambia is losing over $10 million per annum due in forex due to lost production hours and revenues following the indefinite closure of Kasenseli gold mine of Mwinilunga, North Western Province.

This follows revelations that during the first full year of the mine opening (from about June 2020 – October 2021), it had produced a total of about 143Kgs of gold worth over $10 million.

It is now over one and half years (18 months to be specific) after the Government suspended operations at the gold mine, the country continues to lose out on this project as no definite decision regarding its reopening or way forward has been made, indecision seems to have creeped in.

A source with knowledge of the initial production figures at Kasenseli gold mine has told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that a total production of about 143kgs of gold was achieved in the first year of operations.

Kasenseli gold mine was able to hit first year production of 143 kg of gold, which could have now been doubled or even quadrupled if production and investment plans were not discontinued.

The source told ZBT that Kasenseli gold mine at a time, saw the Bank of Zambia – BOZ purchase about 110kgs of gold worth over K128 million while the 33kgs worth about $1.8 million was exported.

And Mwinilunga town council chairperson Jonathan Chinyimba has called on the Head of state – President Hakainde Hichilema to now make a decision so that the mine can commence operations. The province and am sure even the central government wants to see the much needed development.

Chinyimba told ZBT that Mwinilunga has a lot of minerals and “my call is for the government to ensure that one or two more mines are opened in order for the district to benefit by way of raising revenue and job creation”.

In a letter date October 22nd, 2021 signed by  Mooya Lumamba, the then Director of Mines and Safety in the Mines Safety Department of the Ministry of Mines, Government temporarily suspended mining and processing operations at Kasenseli gold mine citing no order at the mining site.

But the temporal closure seems to have now become a prolonged closure and left the people of Mwinilunga wondering why this is not being prioritized.

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Zambia is losing over $10 million per

Agribusiness

See the ZBT earlier article on mealie meal projections to increase by 60%… https://www.facebook.com/100063674815385/posts/728034849329002/?app=fbl

The mealie meal prices have now been increased by about 30% from between K175 to about K230 per 25kg bag with more increase anticipated due to high cost of production if no tangible measures are taken to address the situation.  

A check by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT – in Lusaka with some traders established that mealie meal prices have been increased and now fetching between K212 and K230 per 25kg breakfast bag.  

Some commodity traders have told ZBT that new prices came in effect on Monday 26th June, 2023 after millers increased the prices as a result of the recently adjusted maize prices by the Food Reserve Agency – FRA.

Millers have since attributed the recent increment in the price of mealie meal to an increase in the price of maize on the local market.  

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian business Times – ZBT – some private millers said the increase is obviously because of the increasing commodity prices for the raw material that we use in mealie meal production.

Sources who asked for their names to be withheld said the current market forces are the ones that have determined the commodity prices.

The Food Reserve Agency – FRA – increased maize prices for the 2023/2024 farming marketing season from K180 in the last year to K280 this year a situation which has caused increased cost of production for those in mealie meal production prompting them to increase the prices for them to remain in the game.

Millers have since appealed to Government to ensure that commodity that affect mealie meal production are made promising as it is the only way prices can come down.

“If the prices for maize is high and the market is offering that, what do you expect? We can’t shut down plants but we will buy at what the market is offering so if Government is able to reduce the cost of production then everything reduces but if the cost of production is still high then you don’t expect prices to drop.” Warned some millers.

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See the ZBT earlier article on mealie

Agribusiness

With the increase in maize prices for the 2023/2024 farming marketing season feed prices for livestock and other essential commodities are rapidly increasing due to high cost of production.

A check by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT – in Lusaka with one of Zambia’s leading suppliers Nutri Feeds Zambia and Novatek Animal Feeds Zambia, established that feed prices have indeed been increased for broiler grower, starter and finisher have all been increased by about 20%.

Nutri Feed broiler starter is now fetching between K568 from K479, an increase of K89 which translates to about 20%, grower has also been increased by 20% to K543 from K454 while Finisher has been increased to K543 from K454 while Finisher has also been increased to K528 from K439.

 Broiler starter, Grower and Finisher while Novatek broiler feed starter has also been increased by K5 from K524 to K529, grower by K24 from K497 to K521 and finisher by K23 now fetching between K507 and K484 respectively.

This is after the price of Maize, a major ingredient in Livestock feed formulation, was increased by the Food Reserve Agency – FRA – by over 50 percent from K180 to K280 per 50KG bag.

FRA announced that they had stopped supplying subsidized maize to millers a situation which has resulted in some millers to resolve to increase the price of feed for them to be able to remain in business. 

According to the feed traders who spoke to ZBT, it is this increase in the price of Maize (now at K280 per 50kg bag) which has led to the increase in livestock feed price. Maize is a major component in Livestock feed formulation.

The Food Reserve Agency – FRA – increased maize prices for the 2023/2024 farming marketing season from K180 in the last year to K280 this year a situation that has caused increased cost of production for those in feed production prompting them to increase the prices.

Some poultry farmers and concerned citizens have however expressed concern at this development, which is defeating the expectation that prices would start coming down following the debt restructuring deal.

They have however appealed to Government to engage the key stakeholders to resolve this price escalation, as the cost of living will continue going up since this will eventually lead to increase in cost of chickens and eggs among other foodstuffs.

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With the increase in maize prices for

Uncategorized

The total copper production direction for the first Quarter of 2023 has been droped to between 199, 982 from 239, 603 tonnes recorded within the same period in 2022.

At average international copper prices of over USD$8, 300, Zambia has lost about $330 million in copper exports.

Zambia’s copper production figures have continued to decline with the country recording around 15 percent drop for the first quarter of 2023 when compared to the same period last year.

Total copper production for the first quarter in 2023 was 199, 982 tonnes, a 15% decrease from Q1 2022.

According the ministry of Mines and Minerals Development MMMD, the country recorded a total production of 199, 982 tonnes of copper in the first quarter of 2023 down from 230, 603 produced last year during the same period under review, designating a crash of a total of 30, 621 tons of copper.

Experts who spoke to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, have attributed this continued decline in copper production figures to a lack of turnaround at distressed asserts such as KCM and Mopani and delayed capital expenditure into the sector.

Zambia also recorded declined annual copper production in 2022 with figures dropping to a total of 760, 000 from 800,696 tons from the year the new dawn took over office with a target to 1.3 million tons of copper productions in 2022 alone and up to 3 million tonnes annually by 2031.

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The total copper production direction for the

Uncategorized


Although Zambia is richly endowed with a vast amount of manganese reserves it has failed to capitalise on this and reach higher levels of economic growth. This is partly due to the reason that the sector is underdeveloped because of the many challenges it continues to face.
The Luongo Manganese Mine in Chipili District of Luapula Province Worth over USD$180 million which is earmarked to be one of the biggest Manganese Mines in Africa is still not fully operational even at a time when there is increasing demand for manganese globally.
Manganese is an essential component of the steel-making process, manganese has also played an increasing role in the battery market. The metal sulphate is an important stabilizing ingredient in the cathodes of batteries widely used in electric vehicles and electronics.
Western Province Luapula province Permanent Secretary Might Mumba has confirmed that the 40 million tons Manganese mine which was commissioned by the Head of States President Hakainde Hichilema in November 2022 is still operating on a small scale level.
“The principal came through last year, the President came through to lay a foundation that was done and by then there was a bit of mining going on and even this time around they are mining but only on a small scale. The mining company Musamu resources is yet to put in place the electricity as they are currently using the gen-set and also bring in other essentials.”
Speaking when he commissioned the mine, President Hichilema said the development of Luongo Manganese Mine is a milestone as it has shown that Zambians can set up and run mines in the country.
President Hichilema assured that government will support the mine and ensure that it creates more jobs to benefit the locals.
The Head of State also pledged that suppliers and contractors will benefit from the mine as it will be adding value to the manganese to produce chemical manganese for car batteries.
According to the Association of Zambian Mineral Exploration Companies – AZMEC – The Luongo Manganese Mine in Chipili District of Luapula Province has the capacity to generate about united states dollars USD$180 000 000 (180 Million) as the project is about 40 million tons of manganese.
The mine has been developed by Musamu Resources a Zambian owned company.
Meanwhile efforts to get a comment from Musamu Resources on when the company will commence full production, proved difficulty by press time.

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Although Zambia is richly endowed with a

Uncategorized


Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc – SCBZ – customers are about to get high withdraw fees from the Automated Teller Machine – ATM as the bank has resolved to increase the charges by about 40 percent quoting high cost of doing business as an excuse.


The British multinational bank has increased the withdraw charges for Automated Teller Machine – ATM – by about 40% from the current K12 to K20 per transaction.
As if this is not enough, the Bank has increased Counter check charges from k20 to k50 while saving in business banking account management fee has been raised from k150 to k200.


According to the information made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, by an impeccable source who asked for their names to be withheld, the bank has also increased the monthly management fee for the foreign currency account USD Dollar from $10 to $20 while over the counter withdraws within the ATM limit has been increased k200 from k100.
The bank has also introduced Priority annual membership fee of k500 on the priority customer, SMS notification charge of about K1, bill payments k10, Retirement Tax Services – RTS – of k55 and e tax to the Zambia Revenue Authority – ZRA – which was zero but now k25 has been introduced per transaction.
This has been attributed to the high cost of doing business. “Because we are also looking at the market conditions which have necessitated us to increase the charges.”
“The cost of doing business have actually increased so that is what has actually made us to revise some of our charges.” The source remarked.
Some customers however feel the increase is too much and the bank risks losing already existing potential customers who feel the charges are now too much to carry.

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Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc – SCBZ

Tech

The Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants – ZICA – has revealed that Zambia will now be in a stronger position to support its economic growth as it is now credit worthy and a more attractive destination for Foreign Direct Investment – FDI – after the Official Creditors reached a decision to restructure Zambia’s liabilities with bilateral partners at the just ended meetings in Paris.

ZICA notes that the importance of the successful agreement that would enable the country to reduce its debt burden while still meeting its financial obligations cannot be over emphasised as the debt-restructuring program will significantly decrease Zambia’s debt-to-GDP ratio.

Speaking in a statement availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ZICA President Cecilia Zimba said the Institute is confident that this restructuring will release and relieve funds that are urgently needed for national development.

Zimba stated that the debt restructuring the country has attained means that the country will pay debt over a longer maturity period and at more affordable interest rates. This deal is for public sector debt amounting to $6.3 billion.

“We are now looking forward to the 360 degrees turnaround of prospects for our Country as Debt repayment has been a very big burden with respect to our economic growth. It is common knowledge that our debt-to-GDP ratio has reached unacceptable levels and at default, support from lenders stops coming because a country becomes high risk.”

“We are also confident that a similar deal will be struck with private sector creditors. The debt- restructuring program that involved negotiations with its creditors to restructure its debt obligations and reduce its debt burden could not have been managed better, and what we are celebrating today, is testimony of the work that went into this.”

She added that from this milestone, more resources are anticipated to be channelled towards critical sectors such as healthcare, education, infrastructure and general strides to improve the living standards of the citizens.

Zimba also noted the need for the nation to work together and put all the efforts towards ensuring that all resources made possible by the debt restructuring process are prudently used, made available in a timely manner, to unlock the country’s immense prospects in all sectors of the economy, for sustainable, holistic and inclusive national development.

She added that the Accountancy profession will support all interventions by Government aimed at ensuring that all resources are accounted for.

“Transparency and accountability will continue to be the two words at the centre of our operations as a profession in order to protect public interest and promote prudent public financial management.” She added.

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The Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants -

Companies

​Leading FinTech Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, Bankingly has announced the hosting of a Business Breakfast meeting in Lusaka, Zambia. The event is themed “Experience the future: The game-changing Chatbot and Digital Onboarding Solutions” and is scheduled to hold on Friday 23 June 2023 in Lusaka, Zambia.​

​The Business Breakfast meeting is a unique initiative by Bankingly where it host leaders and decision-makers in the Financial Institutions (FIs) to a session with pundits in digital transformation in a bid to finding solutions to their peculiar business needs especially in the area of digital banking resources.​

​Commenting on the event, Bankingly’s Business Development Manager for Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, Mr. Milton Milimo says “We are excited to bring the Business Breakfast to Lusaka, Zambia as this once again reinforces Bankingly’s devotion to the financial industry in emerging markets by providing solutions to stimulate financial services growth. Several editions of the business breakfast meeting have been held in other African countries – Nigeria, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya and Congo, which were huge successes as we had lots of potential clients attended the meetings.”​ According to the information made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT.

​This move, he pointed out was driven essentially for the Zambian financial industry to seize the opportunity to discover and explore solutions that will increase their business growth, create a competitive edge, and ease customers acquisition using reliable digital banking products from Bankingly. This he further said is touted to help financial service entities in Zambia reduce their operational costs, increase productivity, boost operational efficiency and optimize their customers’ experience.​

​The Business Breakfast is one of the unique programs of Bankingly, dedicated to local and regional financial institutions – Microfinance Banks, Credit Unions, Cooperatives, and Banks in emerging markets. With a focus on innovation and customer-centricity, Bankingly delivers world-class solutions to financial institutions based on pay-per-real usage, high-level security & compliance, and an unbeatable integration time of eight (8) weeks.​

​Bankingly is a leading SaaS provider with cutting-edge digital banking solutions committed to revolutionizing the financial industry. Ahead of most FinTech, Bankingly identifies with financial institutions as a prime contributor to promoting financial inclusion in emerging markets – Africa, Latin America & Asia. For more details on Bankingly, please visit – www.bankingly.com and to request a demo click here https://www.bankingly.com/contact/?utm_campaign=tactic-zm&utm_medium=paid-media&utm_source=press&utm_term=demo

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​Leading FinTech Software as a Service (SaaS)

Agribusiness

In its effort to increase the participation of smallholder farmers in market-integrated and nutrition-sensitive value chains in Zambia, the European Union funded program has under the 4th round awarded six Zambian agri-businesses a total of EUR 2.4 million about  (K45.6 million) in grants through the ENTERPRISE Zambia Challenge Fund – EZCF.

The companies have also pledged to invest EUR 2.9 million about (K55.1 million) into their projects in an effort to create market access for over 7,300 Zambian smallholder-farming households and create full time and part-time jobs, mainly for women and youths in rural areas.

The ENTERPRISE Zambia project is jointly implemented by Self Help Africa, an Irish NGO, and by Imani Development Limited from the United Kingdom and seeks to integrate 150,000 smallholder farmers and producers into the development of sustainable value chains and help them to be part of the transition towards greener and more sustainable agri-food systems. The project aims to create over 8,000 new jobs, focusing particularly on women and youth, during the coming five years.

Speaking during the award ceremony attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen said,” The Enterprise Zambia project responds to the vision stemming from Zambian comprehensive agriculture transformation support program which is part of the EU-Zambia green partnerships for sustainable recovery, growth and decent jobs.”

Urpilainen said Zambia will be best placed to access the EU market, in compliance with the New EU Regulation on Deforestation free supply chains.

Speaking at the same event, Self Help Africa Country Director, Elia Manda added “This is an exciting opportunity for Zambian agri-businesses to be innovative and contribute to smallholder farmer’s commercialisation, so they can grow more and sell more, with positive environmental and social impact.”

Meanwhile, the Zambian Government through the Agriculture Minister Mtolo Phiri thanked the EU delegation for the continued support to Zambia and urged the recipients to utilize the resources for the intended purpose.

Phiri said the support was truly important for the country as the economy strives to address challenges of low production which with this support he believed it was going to help the country increase productions.  

The agri-businesses receiving financial support from the European Union funded programme under the fourth round are: Twala Farming, Ryli Beef and Grains, Plant Health Agri, Nokamu Enterprises, Growmore Technologies and Nash Import & Export.

The project portfolio under the fourth call will focus on crop waste compost production, crop protection and nutritional products, agri-input sales, mechanization, seed production, production of ginger and access to quality livestock inputs and advice on animal husbandry.

The agri-businesses will invest in green technologies demonstrating commercial potential. They will work with smallholders to promote organic production, biocontrol products, biodigesters, sustainable management of soils including incorporation of trees into farming systems and the use of carbon credits to provide additional sources of income to the local rural communities.

The European Union through ENTERPRISE Zambia has already committed EUR 16.8 million to 28 Zambian agri-businesses. The grant recipients focus on 11 value chains in over 70 districts for the diversification of agriculture in Zambia.

Currently, 117,412 smallholder farmers have been integrated into commercial value chains with access to inputs, ready and reliable markets for crops, livestock and fish, competitive prices, training and extension services and a total of 2,103 full-time jobs have so far been created.

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In its effort to increase the participation