Bolivia surpassed 2022, the historical record figure of US$1.8 billion for zinc and concentrate sales, the highest value after five years when it registered the last record, informed the Ministry of Mining this Monday with data from the state-owned National Institute of Statistics (INE).
The Minister of Mining and Metallurgy, Ramiro Villavicencio, told journalists that 90 percent of zinc production and exports come from the mining department of Potosí (southwest).
He also guaranteed the construction of the Zinc Refining Plant in Potosí, with an investment of US$350 million, to generate more income for the region and the country from mining activity.
According to data from the state-owned INE, in 2022, Bolivia registered a historical record in the value of zinc concentrate exports.
Between January and December of that year, the country generated revenues totaling US$1.818 billion, an increase of 31.6 percent over the same period in 2021 when US$1.381 billion was reached.
However, with respect to the volume traded to foreign markets, in 2022, 1.15 million tons of zinc and its concentrates were exported, a growth of 13.8 percent, being that the previous year 1.01 million tons of the mineral were sold.
The data show that the year that Bolivia generated the most income from the sale of zinc until before 2022 was 2018 when it reached US$1.527 billion.
Bolivia exported zinc ore to 11 countries, including Asia, and European, two from America and one from Oceania.
The main markets for Bolivian zinc are Asian countries (Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea), which demanded 71.3 percent of the total volume exported and paid 68 percent of the total value traded.