Commodity Origins

What does Zambia produce and export?

Zambia ranks in the top ten producers of 1 commodity: copper (#7, 4.1% of world output in 2025). It is a top-ten exporter of manganese (#9, 0.4% of world export value in 2024).

Where zambia is produced, 2025World map shaded by share of zambia production in 2025. Darkest: Zambia 100%. 1 producing countries shown.Fiji: no reported productionTanzania: no reported productionWestern Sahara: no reported productionCanada: no reported productionUnited States: no reported productionKazakhstan: no reported productionUzbekistan: no reported productionPapua New Guinea: no reported productionIndonesia: no reported productionArgentina: no reported productionChile: no reported productionDR Congo: no reported productionSomalia: no reported productionKenya: no reported productionSudan: no reported productionChad: no reported productionHaiti: no reported productionDominican Republic: no reported productionRussia: no reported productionBahamas: no reported productionFalkland Isds (Malvinas): no reported productionNorway: no reported productionGreenland: no reported productionFr. South Antarctic Terr.: no reported productionTimor-Leste: no reported productionSouth Africa: no reported productionLesotho: no reported productionMexico: no reported productionUruguay: no reported productionBrazil: no reported productionBolivia: no reported productionPeru: no reported productionColombia: no reported productionPanama: no reported productionCosta Rica: no reported productionNicaragua: no reported productionHonduras: no reported productionEl Salvador: no reported productionGuatemala: no reported productionBelize: no reported productionVenezuela: no reported productionGuyana: no reported productionSuriname: no reported productionFrance: no reported productionEcuador: no reported productionPuerto Rico: no reported productionJamaica: no reported productionCuba: no reported productionZimbabwe: no reported productionBotswana: no reported productionNamibia: no reported productionSenegal: no reported productionMali: no reported productionMauritania: no reported productionBenin: no reported productionNiger: no reported productionNigeria: no reported productionCameroon: no reported productionTogo: no reported productionGhana: no reported productionIvory Coast: no reported productionGuinea: no reported productionGuinea-Bissau: no reported productionLiberia: no reported productionSierra Leone: no reported productionBurkina Faso: no reported productionCentral African Republic: no reported productionRepublic of the Congo: no reported productionGabon: no reported productionEquatorial Guinea: no reported productionZambia: 100% (1)Malawi: no reported productionMozambique: no reported productionEswatini: no reported productionAngola: no reported productionBurundi: no reported productionIsrael: no reported productionLebanon: no reported productionMadagascar: no reported productionPalestine: no reported productionGambia: no reported productionTunisia: no reported productionAlgeria: no reported productionJordan: no reported productionUnited Arab Emirates: no reported productionQatar: no reported productionKuwait: no reported productionIraq: no reported productionOman: no reported productionVanuatu: no reported productionCambodia: no reported productionThailand: no reported productionLaos: no reported productionMyanmar: no reported productionVietnam: no reported productionNorth Korea: no reported productionSouth Korea: no reported productionMongolia: no reported productionIndia: no reported productionBangladesh: no reported productionBhutan: no reported productionNepal: no reported productionPakistan: no reported productionAfghanistan: no reported productionTajikistan: no reported productionKyrgyzstan: no reported productionTurkmenistan: no reported productionIran: no reported productionSyria: no reported productionArmenia: no reported productionSweden: no reported productionBelarus: no reported productionUkraine: no reported productionPoland: no reported productionAustria: no reported productionHungary: no reported productionMoldova: no reported productionRomania: no reported productionLithuania: no reported productionLatvia: no reported productionEstonia: no reported productionGermany: no reported productionBulgaria: no reported productionGreece: no reported productionTurkey: no reported productionAlbania: no reported productionCroatia: no reported productionSwitzerland: no reported productionLuxembourg: no reported productionBelgium: no reported productionNetherlands: no reported productionPortugal: no reported productionSpain: no reported productionIreland: no reported productionNew Caledonia: no reported productionSolomon Islands: no reported productionNew Zealand: no reported productionAustralia: no reported productionSri Lanka: no reported productionChina: no reported productionTaiwan: no reported productionItaly: no reported productionDenmark: no reported productionUnited Kingdom: no reported productionIceland: no reported productionAzerbaijan: no reported productionGeorgia: no reported productionPhilippines: no reported productionMalaysia: no reported productionBrunei: no reported productionSlovenia: no reported productionFinland: no reported productionSlovakia: no reported productionCzechia: no reported productionEritrea: no reported productionJapan: no reported productionParaguay: no reported productionYemen: no reported productionSaudi Arabia: no reported productionAntarcticaN. CyprusCyprus: no reported productionMorocco: no reported productionEgypt: no reported productionLibya: no reported productionEthiopia: no reported productionDjibouti: no reported productionSomalilandUganda: no reported productionRwanda: no reported productionBosnia and Herzegovina: no reported productionNorth Macedonia: no reported productionSerbia: no reported productionMontenegro: no reported productionKosovoTrinidad and Tobago: no reported productionSouth Sudan: no reported production<0.5%0.5–1%1–2.5%2.5–5%5–10%10–20%≥20%
Share of world production, 2025. Countries with no reported production are unshaded.

What does Zambia produce?

Commodities where Zambia is a top-ten producer
CommodityWorld rankShare of worldProductionYearSource
Copper Metals74.1%940,000 t2025USGS MCS

What does Zambia export?

Top 1 Zambia commodity exports, 2024Bar chart of top 1 Zambia commodity exports in 2024: Manganese 0.4%; rest of world 100%.ManganeseManganese: 0.4%, $27.6 million0.4%Rest of worldRest of world: 100%, $0100%
Zambia's largest commodity exports by value. Each bar's share is that commodity's share of world trade in it, not its share of Zambia's own exports — the two are unrelated and shown so a bar near 100% marks a commodity Zambia dominates globally rather than one it merely exports a lot of.
Top 1 Zambia commodity exports in 2024
RankCommodityExport value (US$)Share of world
1Manganese$27.6 million0.4%
Rest of world$0100%

Zambia's own tracked-export mix

Unlike the chart above, this treemap sizes each commodity by its share of Zambia's own $403.5 million of tracked exports, not by world trade. Tobacco alone is 87% of it. See the full export dependency report for how Zambia compares with other countries.

Zambia's tracked export mix by commodityTobacco: 87.0%; Manganese: 6.8%; Pepper: 4.6%; Fluorspar: 1.3%; Tungsten: 0.2%.Tobacco: 87.0%Tobacco87.0%Manganese: 6.8%Manganese6.8%Pepper: 4.6%Pepper4.6%Fluorspar: 1.3%Fluorspar1.3%Tungsten: 0.2%
Commodities where Zambia is a top-ten exporter
CommodityWorld rankShare of world exportsExport valueYear
Manganese90.4%$27.6 million2024

Sources: FAOSTAT (crops and livestock), USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries (minerals), Energy Institute Statistical Review (energy) for production; CEPII BACI for trade. Ranks count only the commodities on this site.

Zambia in the pattern reports

What the cross-commodity reports under Patterns say about Zambia, computed from the same data as this page.

What Zambia uses

Zambia had about 21 million people and a food supply of 2,170 kilocalories per person a day in FAO's 2023 food balance sheets. Its eight largest supplies among the commodities tracked there:

Largest domestic supplies of tracked commodities in Zambia, 2023
CommodityDomestic supplyShare of worldkg per personSelf-sufficiencyImported
Cassava4.4 million tonnes1.3%204 (#5 of 112)100%<0.1%
Corn2.9 million tonnes0.2%102 (#3 of 140)103%0.4%
Soybeans579 thousand tonnes0.2%4.2 (#6 of 141)114%<0.1%
Sugar276 thousand tonnes0.2%10 (#122 of 143)171%0.7%
Wheat241 thousand tonnes<0.1%9.6 (#136 of 143)95%27%
Peanuts220 thousand tonnes0.4%7.0 (#8 of 142)103%<0.1%
Beef208 thousand tonnes0.3%10 (#61 of 142)100%<0.1%
Rice113 thousand tonnes<0.1%4.9 (#125 of 141)51%58%

FAO reports a negative domestic supply for Zambia's pepper (−2 thousand tonnes; production 0 tonnes, imports 0 tonnes, exports 2 thousand tonnes); milk (−1.1 million tonnes; production 504 thousand tonnes, imports 91 thousand tonnes, exports 1.7 million tonnes), meaning exports exceed production plus imports in the year. These are not counted as use and are left out of the table above.

FAOSTAT Food Balance Sheets. Per-person rank counts countries of at least 1 million people. See consumption and self-sufficiency.

How long Zambia's own reserves would last

USGS national reserve figures, rounded. A short national figure usually reflects how little has been proved up, not when mining stops. See country reserve life.

Downloads and citation

This country's rankings as JSON · PDF summary. Cite as: Commodity Origins, "What does Zambia produce and export?", https://commodityorigins.com/countries/ZMB/ (CC BY 4.0).

Data updated 22 October 2026.

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