In the Democratic Republic of Congo, increasing access to clean energy could threaten the coal industry, which is significant in the country. Economist Al Kitenge made this point at a recent national energy forum organized by civil society.

Kitenge noted that the coal sector in the capital, alone, generates about $300 million a year, or $25 million a month. With over 20 million residents, many in Kinshasa rely on coal for cooking.

The demand for coal is high not just in Kinshasa but also in other provinces, particularly in the Eastern and Central Kongo regions. The DRC holds around 60% of the equatorial forest, which effectively captures greenhouse gases, making it an attractive option for green financing. The Congolese government estimates that $21.6 billion is needed to finance projects aimed at reducing climate risks.

Current projects include the Lake Kivu methane-to-electricity initiative and various off-grid mini-plants. However, Kitenge argues these projects are not enough to meet the growing energy demand in urban and semi-urban areas, forcing many to continue using charcoal.

Georges Auréole Bamba

Copper and cobalt producer Kamoa Copper SA signed 13 outsourcing contracts with Congolese small and medium-sized businesses two weeks ago. The deals were sealed on August 22. They are worth around $35,000 respectively, based on data from the DRC’s Outsourcing Agency, the ARSP. 2024.

"Kamoa Copper supports entrepreneurship by publishing its tenders on the PSRA website and creating or facilitating partnerships between local and international contractors," said Riaan Vermeulen, the company's managing director.

These contracts mainly involve supplying technical services. "The duration of the contracts has been increased from 12 months to 36 months to help these companies gain credibility with financial institutions, which is essential for their growth and job creation," the company stated on its X account.

Regarding the contracts’ value, the DRC’s law on outsourcing stipulates that for any contract of more than $35,000  a call for expressions of interest is compulsory. The same law allows companies with 51% local ownership to bid for the contract. 

The outsourcing market in the DRC raked in about $8.5 billion in 2022, according to the World Bank. This represented 13.5% of the country’s GDP that year.

In 2023, Kamoa Copper SA's operating expenses surpassed $1 billion, covering various purchases, transport, and external services. The company did not specify how much of this spending was related to compliance with the Subcontracting Act. Between 2022 and 2023, Kamoa Copper announced around $2 billion in similar expenditures.

Georges Auréole Bamba

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is Central Africa’s top organic farming country. This is according to The World Of Organic Agriculture 2024 released in February.

According to the annual survey which covers 188 countries, the DRC dedicated 116,493 hectares to organic farming in 2022. This is 27,000 hectares more than in 2021 and 64,655 hectares up compared to a decade ago. 

In Africa, the DRC currently ranks 7th regarding organic farming. It is behind Uganda (505,308 ha), Tanzania (313,231 ha), Ethiopia (238,146 ha), Tunisia (227,582 ha), Sierra Leone (194,684 ha) and Togo (158,581 ha).

Most of the DRC’s organic produce goes to the European Union (EU). In 2022, Africa’s second-biggest country exported 13,765 tons to the EU, and only 173 tons to the USA. 

The DRC is well-positioned to take advantage of the global demand for organic agriculture given the diversity of its production systems and the size of its arable land.

However, to capture a substantial share of the total market value, estimated at €135 billion ($149 billion), the country needs to implement action plans or policy measures to promote organic farming and establish a support system for producers. 

Worldwide, the US, Germany, and China are the biggest organic food buyers, and Denmark is the top seller. The European country supplies 12% of this market.

Espoir Olodo

Chinese mining giant CMOC disclosed its net profit for H1 2024 last week: $762 million. Year-on-year the figure soared by 670%, a performance attributed to significant production growth and “major advancements at its operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”.

Over the period reviewed, CMOC's copper production doubled to 313,788 tons and cobalt production surged by 178.22% to 54,024 tons.

CMOC reported that its TFM East plant in the DRC reached production targets for H1 2024, with “five production lines now operational”. This has helped push TFM’s annual production capacity to 450,000 tons of copper and 37,000 tons of cobalt–making the mine the world’s fifth-biggest copper mine and second-biggest cobalt mine. Meanwhile, KFM, CMOC’s other project in the DRC, maintained a “high production” with “an annual capacity exceeding 150,000 tons of copper and 50,000 tons of cobalt, solidifying its position as the largest cobalt mine in the world”. CMOC can thus produce 600,000 tons of copper and 87,000 tons of cobalt annually from these two projects. 

Besides the rise in production, the Chinese giant attributed the surge in its net profits to other factors such as "the rise in metal prices on world markets, particularly for copper and cobalt".  Cobalt and copper were the main drivers of CMOC’s profits but the firm also produces molybdenum, tungsten, niobium, and phosphate fertilizers.

CMOC’s success should help consolidate the DRC’s position in the global copper and cobalt market. The Central African country is the world’s top cobalt product and second-largest copper producer. This success also highlights the potential for increased government revenues from mining, through taxes and royalties, among others. 

According to IMF data, the DRC’s mining revenues rose from an average of $4 billion between 2013 and 2017 to $5.5 billion from 2018 to 2022, "thanks to increased production of the main mining export products (copper and cobalt) and by the larger share of mining company profits attributed to the government".

Louis-Nino Kansoun