The Extractive Industry's contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown by 8.8% in about a decade, from 1.8% in 2011 to nearly 10.6% in 2022, the President of the Republic (PR) announced today.

"In Mozambique, the extractive industry has grown significantly, from 1.8% of GDP in 2011 to nearly 10.6% in 2022," said Filipe Nyusi, during his opening speech at the 15th Mining and Energy Conference and Exhibition.

According to the PR, this growth reflects the development of the coal exploration project in Moatize, in Tete province; heavy sands in Moma, Nampula; Pebane, in Zambézia; and Chibuto, in Gaza; as well as the ruby and graphite projects in Cabo Delgado province; the Inhassoro natural gas project, in Inhambane province; and the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) development project at sea (Mozambique LNG) "which has already been exporting LNG since the last quarter of last year".

Nyusi also noted that the first impact of the extractive sector is on exports, with effects on the networks of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises supplying goods and services, whose universe is estimated at 229,680 producers in the country.

In another development on Mozambique's role in the energy transition, the PR highlighted the start of the supply of graphite from Balama, in Cabo Delgado, to a US company producing batteries for electric cars. This plan should come to fruition later this year.

"This is an indication of the growing scope and importance of strategic minerals in the future," said Nyusi, acknowledging, however, that the biggest problem lies in the fact that the opportunities for retaining the high yield of these explorations are on the international market, "outside the continent, a fact that seems contrary to the intentions of industrialization in the country."

"I would like the conference to work towards getting investors to start thinking about transforming everything here [in the country]. And that makes it easier because the costs will be lower, but also because they will make their contribution to employing more Mozambicans. There are conditions for this in Mozambique," he urged.