{"id":117062,"date":"2026-06-19T15:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027"},"modified":"2026-06-21T03:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T01:57:12","slug":"zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Call for Export Ban until 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong> <\/span>Lithium mining companies operating in Zimbabwe have requested the government to extend the deadline for the export ban on lithium concentrates, which is set to take effect in January 2027, to allow more time for the completion of local processing projects under construction.<\/p>\n<p>The head of the Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Association, Innocent Rukweza, stated that the companies propose postponing the ban to June 2027, explaining that several projects are still in the construction or technical study phases, and the current timeline may not be sufficient for their completion.<\/p>\n<p>The Zimbabwean government, the largest lithium producer in Africa, aims to encourage companies to process the mineral locally instead of exporting it in raw form, with the goal of increasing added value and maximizing economic returns from the battery and strategic minerals sector. Authorities have imposed export quotas and fees on concentrate exports while maintaining the decision for a complete ban starting in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>Industry data indicates that the Chinese company &#8220;Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt&#8221; is currently the only one operating a lithium sulfate production plant in the country, while other companies, including &#8220;Sinomine&#8221; and &#8220;Yahua,&#8221; are continuing to build similar facilities. Meanwhile, the state-owned &#8220;Sandawe&#8221; is conducting feasibility studies for a new processing project.<\/p>\n<p>Despite challenges related to high taxes, operational costs, and fluctuating regulatory policies, the industry expects to reach a production capacity of approximately 344,000 tons per year of lithium sulfate by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>It is noteworthy that Chinese companies dominate the lithium sector in Zimbabwe, having invested over $2 billion since 2021. In 2025, the country exported about 1.13 million tons of lithium concentrates to China, accounting for nearly 15% of China&#8217;s imports of this material. Harare aims to replicate the model of countries that have successfully developed local processing industries for strategic minerals instead of merely exporting raw materials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Zimbabwe<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. Lithium mining companies operating in Zimbabwe have requested the government to extend the deadline for the export ban on lithium concentrates, which is set to take effect in January 2027, to allow more time for the completion of local processing projects under construction. The head of the Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Association, Innocent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":117061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-117062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-head-lines","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Call for Export Ban until 2027 - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lithium mining companies operating in Zimbabwe have requested the government to extend the deadline\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Call for Export Ban until 2027\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lithium mining companies operating in Zimbabwe have requested the government to extend the deadline\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-19T13:36:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-21T01:57:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/06\/sm_1782006261.568793.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"498\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Call for Export Ban until 2027\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-19T13:36:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-21T01:57:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\"},\"wordCount\":314,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/06\/sm_1782006261.568793.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/zimbabwe-lithium-producers-call-for-export-ban-until-2027\",\"name\":\"Zimbabwe Lithium Producers Call for Export Ban until 2027 - 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