Zimbabwe's Lithium Export Revenue Reaches US$2.16 Billion in First Nine Months

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 7, the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe released mineral product sales data for the first three quarters of 2026. As of September 30, the country's lithium product export revenue reached US$2.16 billion, nearly four times the full-year level of 2025. General Manager Nomusa Moyo noted that the selling price of spodumene concentrate rose by approximately 283% year-on-year, which was the main factor driving the growth in lithium product revenue. Lithium product sales revenue has surpassed platinum group metals to become Zimbabwe's second-largest mineral export revenue source after gold.

By product category, spodumene concentrate contributed approximately US$1.812 billion in sales revenue, a year-on-year increase of 368.2%, with the average realized selling price rising from US$387 per tonne in the same period last year to approximately US$1,483. Petalite product sales revenue reached US$155.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 583.3%. Lithium sulfate sales revenue was approximately US$190.5 million, with export volume of approximately 33,800 tonnes; there were no corresponding lithium sulfate sales records in the same period of 2025.

Zimbabwe's lithium products are currently mainly exported to China. China's Huayou Cobalt invested approximately US$400 million to build a lithium salt processing plant in Zimbabwe and began exporting lithium sulfate in April 2026. By the end of the third quarter, lithium sulfate had become a newly added processed product category in the country's lithium mineral exports. In recent years, Chinese companies including Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, Yahua Group, Shengxin Lithium Energy, and Tsingshan Holding Group have invested a cumulative total of approximately US$2 billion in Zimbabwe's lithium mining and processing sector.

According to statistics from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe, from January to September 2026, the country's total mineral product sales excluding gold and silver reached US$4.74 billion, an increase of 101.8% compared with US$2.347 billion in the same period last year; sales volume increased from 3.84 million tonnes to 4.738 million tonnes, a rise of 23.4%. Among these, lithium products accounted for 45.6% of total mineral product sales within the statistical scope, while platinum group metals accounted for 36.5%, with sales revenue of approximately US$1.73 billion, a difference of approximately US$430 million between the two.

The Zimbabwean government previously suspended exports of lithium raw ore and lithium concentrate in February 2026, and in April restored quota management for eligible producers. Relevant companies are required to submit commitments and timelines for the construction of local lithium processing facilities, and the current policy plans to stop lithium concentrate exports starting in 2027. The Minerals Marketing Corporation expects that mineral product prices overall will remain higher in the fourth quarter of 2026 than in 2025, but the lithium market still faces factors such as excess raw material supply and cautious restocking by buyers.