Zambia, one of the major copper producers in the world, saw its copper production declining in the first quarter of this year as a result of the flooding of mines, the central bank said here Thursday.

Bank of Zambia (BOZ) Governor Caleb Fundanga told journalists at the bank's quarterly media briefing that the country's copper production declined slightly by 0.14 percent in the first three months.

According to BOZ figures, copper output dropped to 114,239 tons during the first quarter from 114,403 tons in the previous quarter. This, according to the BOZ, was also 9.2 percent lower than the 125,880 tons produced during the same period of last year.

"This was largely due to flooding of mines, typical during the rainy season," the bank chief said.

Fundanga said high water levels in the mines also led to a decline in cobalt output by 7 percent to 949 tons in the first quarter from 1,020 tons in the previous quarter.

The southern African country experienced floods in the last few months in many parts of the country due to the heavy rains.

However, earnings from both copper and cobalt exports went up during the first quarter of the year, BOZ said. Figures show that copper export earnings were at 651 million U.S. dollars, 2.4 percent higher than the 636 million dollars earned in the previous quarter.

The increase was due to higher sales volumes which saw copper export volumes increasing to 112,198 tons from 107,221 tons, according to the bank.

On the other hand, cobalt export earnings rose to 46.8 million dollars in the first quarter from 40.2 million in the previous quarter due to an increase in the realized price of the commodity.