Maravi

Kopulande urges value addition to local products

Kopulande urges value addition to local products
Written by Mwiinga Mukuwa
Friday, January 16, 2009 4:48:29 AM

ZAMBIA Association of Manufacturers vice-president Sebastian Kopulande has called for value addition to locally-produced commodities to promote exports. In an interview, Kopulande said there was need for natural resources such as copper to be processed here within Zambia considering that there was increased demand for the commodity by the electronic industries worldwide.

He called on the government to revisit its policies on production and exports of commodities.

“The highest levels of copper products we export are copper concentrates which are the first stage in manufacturing where you raise the grade of copper and that is processed into finished products,” Kopulande said. “The very same copper we export to other countries is imported here in Zambia already processed by countries such as Japan and China where they make final products. Why can’t we do it here when the raw material is down here? It’s most unfortunate and we must therefore revisit our policies.”

Kopulande said the government should ensure that natural resources such as copper were processed into the final products locally.

“That way, more employment can be created which will also provide an even distribution of wealth,” he said.

He said processing copper locally would increase demand for the commodity while stimulating further investment into other productive sectors of the country’s economy.

“There will be creation of disposable income in the hands of the people, meaning an improvement in our economic activities which will create economic growth we are aiming at,” he said.

Kopulande said Zambia’s economy still had the potential to register growth despite the global economic crisis owing to its abundant natural resources which needed to be fully utilised.

“We need to add value to our raw materials, that is what manufacturing is all about,” he said.

And Kopulande said the government had not taken serious measures in mechanising the agricultural sector despite the country having plenty of arable land.

Labels: SEBASTIAN KOPULANDE

posted by MrK @ 4:49 AM