Exports from Mozal, the massive aluminium smelter on the outskirts of the capital, Maputo, accounted for over 60 percent of the country's total export earnings, according to central bank figures released on Thursday. The smelter, which is the country's the largest private investment, started production last June.
After aluminium, the export of prawns, Mozambique's most important export products, remained unchanged. Several of the country's traditional exports, however, received a huge blow. Cotton fell 49.1 percent, timber fell 40.3 percent and cashews fell 81.6 percent. The bank blamed the decline in the cashew industry on a fall in the world market price of cashew kernels and blamed the timber fall on government restrictions on unprocessed log exports.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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