Zimpapers Logo

Chromite

Martin Kadzere, Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE’S high carbon ferrochrome exports rose 400 percent in the nine months to September 2017, driven by improved prices and higher production, official figures show.

Export earnings from HCFC, which is used in the production of stainless steel, increased to $250 million from $64.6 million, making it the second highest mineral exported during the period under review, the Minerals and Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe said.

Local ferrochrome processors produced 248 000 tonnes from 96 000 tonnes in the same period last year, representing a 257 percent growth, said MMCZ, a Government agency responsible for marketing the country’s mineral except for gold and silver.

Last month, the Government dispatched a delegation to China to meet ferrochrome and Ferro-nickel buyers as it presses ahead with efforts to extract better value from minerals. The purpose of the visit was to engage potential and existing buyers to directly buy the mineral from MMCZ without going through middleman.

“This comes as the country is losing significant revenue from the sale of its minerals, particularly chrome and diamonds, as it had to contend with a long chain of middleman,” said MMCZ.

Zimbabwe holds the world’s second largest deposits of chrome, which is smelted to produce ferrochrome. Raw chrome exports rose 700 percent during the period under review to $67.4 million from $9.3 million in the same period last year.

Export revenues from platinum rose $660 million from $606 million in the previous comparable period. Coal and coke products export increased 68 percent to $14.2 million. Granite exports declined by 21 percent to $21.1 million compared to $25 million due to reduction in granite sales. The decline in sales largely resulted from logistical challenges caused by bad roads as well as resistance by producers to MMCZ export prices effected at the beginning of the year.