Corrected: Zambia suspends export tax on precious stones and metals

Gemfields

19/02/2025 07:18

(Corrects date to Wednesday from Monday in paragraph 5)
       Feb 19 (Reuters) - Zambia has suspended a 15% export tax
on precious stones and metals in a bid to enhance
competitiveness on the global market and draw investment, the
finance ministry said on Wednesday.
    The southern African country, the world's second largest
emerald producer after Colombia, reintroduced the tax in January
2025 after it was suspended in 2019.
    "Zambian precious stones and metals will now be priced more
competitively on the global market, thereby attracting greater
interest from international buyers and leading to higher sales
volumes," the ministry said in a statement.
    In January, Gemfields  GEMGE.L , which operates the Kagem
emerald mine, one of the biggest in the world, warned that the
export tax would hurt Zambia's gemstone sector and asked the
government to remove it.
    On Wednesday, Gemfields CEO Sean Gilbertson said the Zambian
government's "decisive action" on the export tax would set the
industry "back on track".
    Kagem, which accounts for about 25% supply of global rough
emeralds, produced about 10 million carats of emeralds and about
30 million carats of beryl in 2024.
    
    
    

 (Reporting by Nelson Banya
Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((Nelson.Banya@thomsonreuters.com;))