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Commerce, Trade and Industry
Jewellery Manufacturing
low as there is no need to transport crops to urban
areas for processing and then back to rural areas
for consumption. Additionally, since small-scale pro-
cessing plants are less complex, they can be easily
installed, allowing processing to be done at, or near,
the point where the product is in demand.
The downstream processing of livestock produce
has great potential, particularly in the beef and dairy
subsectors. There are also indications that fish pro-
cessing could gain momentum, provided refrigera-
tion and storage facilities are expanded, or further
processes such as canning are developed to add
value to fish products. The processing of grocery
items such as cold meats, biscuits, tinned food, jam
and cheese is also largely underexploited.
Textiles and Clothing
Cotton is grown, ginned and spun in Zambia at in-
dustrial sites boasting state-of-the-art spinning,
weaving and processing factories as well as ware-
houses. Products include cotton yarn and grey cloth
of world-class quality, as well as garments. An im-
portant player in the industry is Sakiza Spinning Lim-
ited. Located in Kitwe, Sakiza has been in operation
since 1986 and has been providing quality acrylic
yarn to the regional market. The yarn, sold under the
brand name ‘MWANACRYL’ is a household name
in Zambia and is known for its excellent quality and
wide range of colours. The company produces hi
bulk acrylic yarn in two-ply, three-ply and four-ply in
counts ranging from 14 to 32. The yarn is sold in 50-
gram balls or 500-gram cones.
Cottonseed is exported to COMESA member coun-
tries such as Namibia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the
DRC as well as the SADC countries of South Africa
and Botswana, while cotton is exported to the SADC
region (South Africa and Lesotho) as well as the Eu-
ropean Union (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and
the United Kingdom) and the People’s Republic of
China.
The textile industry in Zambia has historically been
one of the principal contributors to economic growth
in the manufacturing sector, producing international-
ly competitive products from abundant raw material.
However, the competition brought on by the liberal-
ized economy has seen the industry dwindle in size.
Nevertheless, as a labour-intensive industry, the pro-
duction of textiles and clothing has the potential to
contribute greatly to the Zambian economy by way of
employment creation and increased export earnings.
Modern processing technologies allow for increased
production capacities and the variety of products,
which are able to meet additional demand for capac-
ity and varieties in the international market.
Mineral Processing
Government incentives support new businesses that
process copper rather than exporting raw copper
bars. Copper wire and other copper products, such
as copper plate and tubing, are an area of growth,
with copper rod and cables generating a sizeable
proportion of Zambia’s non-traditional export earn-
ings.
The small-scale cutting and polishing of gemstones
as well as local jewellery manufacture is gaining
ground since the establishment of the gemstone ex-
change and a number of government initiatives sup-
porting minerals sector diversification.
Chemical Products
Zambia’s substantial resources of agricultural miner-
als such as peat and limestone deposits are used to
manufacture soil conditioners, while phosphates are
used in the production of fertilizers.
Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia manufactures explo-
sive grade ammonium nitrate, chemical fertilizers
and industrial chemicals. Government is presently
looking for a local partner from the private sector to
help run the company. The recently commissioned
Chambishi Smelter also has the capacity to produce
fertilizer.