Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats) has disclosed that the country posted a trade surplus of K4.7 billion in January 2026, an improvement from the K1.0 billion surplus posted in December 2025.
According to ZamStats Acting Statistician General Sheila Mudenda, exports—mainly comprising domestically produced goods—declined by 5.5 percent, from K29.2 billion in December 2025 to K27.6 billion in January 2026.
Mrs. Mudenda told Journalists at a media briefing that the reduction was mainly driven by decreases in export earnings from intermediate goods, which fell by 3.6 percent, consumer goods, down 29.6 percent, raw materials, down 5.1 percent, and capital goods, down 7.5 percent.
She noted that imports dropped by 18.9 percent, from K28.2 billion in December 2025 to K22.9 billion in January 2026.
“This was mainly as a result of decreases in import bills of Intermediate goods by 23.5 percent, Capital goods by 23.9 percent and Consumer goods by 14.9 percent,” she said.
Traditional Exports (TEs) earnings rose by 1.7 percent, from K20.2 billion in December 2025 to K20.5 billion in January 2026. Traditional exports—mainly copper—accounted for 74.3 percent of total exports in January 2026.
Mrs. Mudenda reported that Non-Traditional Exports (NTEs) earnings declined by 21.7 percent, from K9.0 billion in December 2025 to K7.1 billion in January 2026.
She noted that agricultural products accounted for 23.1 percent of NTEs in January 2026 compared to 27.1 percent recorded in December 2025, with the major export commodities being maize flour at 10.4 percent, tobacco—partly or wholly stemmed and stripped—at 9.6 percent, and other corn seed at 8.1 percent.
The Acting Statistician General observed that export earnings from agricultural products declined by 33.3 percent, from K2.4 billion in December 2025 to K1.6 billion in January 2026.
“Non-agricultural products accounted for a share of 76.9 percent of NTEs in January 2026 compared to 72.9 percent in January 2026. Export earnings from non-agricultural products decreased by 17 percent from K6.6 billion in December 2025 to K5.4 billion in January 2026. The major export commodities were Nickel ores and concentrates at 17.8 percent, other Zinc concentrates accounting for 10.2 percent, and Sulphur of all kinds 7.4 percent,” she stressed.
Mrs. Mudenda further revealed that export earnings from refined copper surged by 7.3 percent, from K19.6 billion in December 2025 to K20.2 billion in January 2026, while refined copper export volumes rose by 7.3 percent, from 72.8 thousand metric tonnes in December 2025 to 78.1 thousand metric tonnes in January 2026.
“Further, copper prices on the LME market for the corresponding months increased by 10.9 percent from US$11,803.8 per Mt in December 2025 to US$13,088.9 per Mt in January 2026,” she reported.
She said the volume of refined copper exports in January 2026 rose by 7.3 percent to 78.1 thousand metric tonnes, compared to 74.1 thousand metric tonnes recorded during the same period in 2025
