World: the price of a tonne of copper increases slightly to 10,247 USD

Copper, one of the main mining products exported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), observes an upward trend on the international market for the week from March 28 to April 1, 2022.

According to the analyzes of the experts of the National Commission of Mercurials of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, this product should sell at 10,247 USD this week against 10,017.80 USD per ton last week.

Thus, the ton of copper should record a positive price difference of around 229.7 USD on the international market during the period considered.

Indeed, the price of copper is back on the rise this week after having experienced a considerable drop in the market last week, recording a negative price difference of around 511.2 USD.

It should be noted that copper is not the only mining product exported from the DRC to experience an upturn in prices on the international market during this period.

According to the same document, the price of zinc should also increase this week to 3,902 USD per tonne against 3,833 USD per tonne last week, thus generating a positive price difference of 69.2 USD.

Although it has large reserves of raw materials, the Democratic Republic of Congo is failing through its governance in this sector, observers from the NGO Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) report in a recently published report.

According to the 2021 Natural Resources Governance Index, the governance of the mining industry in 7 out of 13 countries is “weak” or “insufficient”, in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Thus, the Congolese government should improve its mining governance to take advantage of the bright market situation for products such as copper, cobalt and zinc.

The Congolese authorities would do better to think about setting up refineries so that the country takes full advantage of its underground riches.