BMI Research, part of Fitch Solutions, says drought-linked power shortages from
this year’s El Nifio pose a new risk to copper production in the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Zambia, two of Africa’s main base-metal producers. Heavy
reliance on hydropower leaves DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe vulnerable to outages;
reduced supply could raise costs at energy‑intensive smelters. Zambia gets 87%
of its power from hydropower, and BMI notes that in prior El Nifio episodes the
share of hydro capacity affected by drought rose 29%.
