DR Congo was Africa's highest charcoal producer in 2023, with charcoal output containing 274.62 PJ of energy

Key takeaways:

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the highest charcoal-producing country in Africa with 274.62PJ (petajoules) of charcoal produced in 2023.
Nigeria is the ninth country on the list, with 43.76PJ.
The total amount of charcoal produced in Africa in 2023 was 1,367.26PJ.
Africa claims 69.2% of the total quantity of charcoal produced globally.

Charcoal, a solid biofuel derived from organic, renewable biomass sources, is a vital source of heat energy. In Sub-Saharan African countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, over 60% of households rely on charcoal as a primary cooking fuel.

In 2023, Africa produced 1,367.26PJ of charcoal, making up 69.2% of the total quantity produced globally. The Democratic Republic of Congo produced over 20% of Africa's total output. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, charcoal is a critical source of heat energy and income, especially in urban and peri-urban areas. Over 90% of urban households in the cities like Kinshasa, Goma, Kisangani, and Bunia rely on charcoal for cooking due to unstable/unreliable electricity, easy storage and transportation.

Nigeria produced over 3% of Africa's total charcoal output, ranking it the 9th highest charcoal-producing country in Africa. It can be seen that although DRC and Nigeria are both Sub-Saharan African countries, they have varying values of production due to demand and percentage of usage.

Source:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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Period:

2023

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