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China trade
ChinaDiplomacy

Trade boom with China makes Africa one of world’s strongest performers

  • Rising commodity prices helped an all-time high of US$254 billion in year of recovery after pandemic controls hit global markets
  • The performance is also fuelled by increasing Chinese imports of African agricultural products

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China sources most of its cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: AFP
Jevans Nyabiage
Trade between China and Africa reached an all-time high in 2021 of US254 billion – a 35 per cent year-on-year increase surpassing pre-Covid-19 numbers, according to the latest Chinese customs data.
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China exported US$148 billion in goods to Africa, up 29.9 per cent on 2020, while receiving US$106 billion in imports from the continent – a rise of 43.7 per cent – in a year of recovery from the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trade dropped 11 per cent year-on-year in 2020 to US$187 billion – after growing 2 per cent to US$208.7 billion the previous year – in the wake of tough pandemic control measures imposed across the world, including border and movement restrictions as well as factory and port closures.

South Africa took the lion’s share of the China trade, with US$54 billion last year, followed by Nigeria at US$26 billion, Angola on US$23 billion, and Egypt with US$19 billion.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – where China sources most of its cobalt, an essential component of batteries for electric vehicles, as well as smartphones, tablets and laptops – was in fifth place, at US$14 billion.

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Analysts attributed last year’s better trade numbers to Beijing’s recent push to boost African imports, as well as higher commodity prices which started recovering in late 2020 and continued to improve last year.

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