Reflecting on Sino-African Trade

　　The year 2013 witnessed an increasingly volatileglobal economy， but an overall robust growth in Africa supportedby strong investment demand， increased productivecapacity as well as enhanced domestic consumption.

　　The International Monetary Fund predicts that growth inAfrica will reach to 5 percent in 2013 and 6 percent in 2014.

　　Against this backdrop， both China and African countriesfocused on transforming their economic developmentmodes and achieved impressive progress in bilateral tradeand economic cooperation， involving more African countriesand industrial sectors， which laid a solid foundation forthe deepening of future cooperation.

　　Leap-frogging bilateral trade

　　China-Africa trade in 2012 reached $198.5 billion. Chinahas been the largest trading partner of Africa since 2009.The share of China-Africa trade in China’s total foreign tradewent up to 5.1 percent and its share in the total foreigntrade of Africa reached 16.1 percent， both at the highestlevel in history.

　　Latest figures show that the trade between China andAfrica from January to October of 2013 amounted to $172.8billion， an increase of 5.5 percent year on year. South Africa，Angola and Nigeria were the top three African tradingpartners with China. China’s trade with South Africa aloneaccounted for 31 percent of the total China-Africa trade.

　　In 2013， trade between China and the majority ofAfrican countries was on the rise. Notably， China’s bilateraltrade with Eritrea and South Sudan surged at the rates of197.3 percent and 190.2 percent respectively. In addition，bilateral trade with African countries without rich energyresources such as Togo， Djibouti and Benin alsoincreased by large margins. China-Africa tradetook on an increasingly diversified pattern.

　　From January to October， China’s exportof goods to Africa reached $76.08 billion， anincrease of 9.6 percent year on year. Goodsimported from Africa totaled $96.75 billion， up by2.4 percent year on year， revealing China’s tradedeficit with Africa. Africa is the second largestsource of China’s crude oil imports. However，due to political instability in major oil productionregions in Africa， China’s crude oil imports fromthe continent decreased. From January to October， Chinaimported 53.48 million tons of crude oil from Africa， a yearon-year decrease of 0.99 percent.

　　Expanding investment cooperation

　　Africa is an important destination for Chinese companies’“globalization” efforts. By the end of 2012， China’s directinvestment stock in Africa totaled $21.73 billion， up by 33.8percent over the previous year. From January to Octoberof 2013， China’s direct investment in Africa’s non-financialsectors reached $2.53 billion， up by 71.63 percent. About12 African countries attracted more than $100 milliondirect investment in non-financial sectors fromChina. They are the Republic of Congo， Algeria，Mauritius， Zimbabwe， Sudan， Zambia， Nigeria，the Democratic Republic of the Congo， Angola，Ghana， Tanzania and Kenya. With the growingamount of China’s investment flow to Africa， theinvestment cooperation is expanding to morecountries and industrial sectors. China hasdirect investment not only in African countriesrich in resources， but in many others， makingup a total of nearly 50 partner countries. Thesectors of cooperation are expanding from thetraditional fields of agriculture， mining andconstruction to manufacturing， financing， commerceand logistics.

　　Projects contracting on the rise

　　The Chinese Government encourages its enterprises andfinancial institutions to actively get involved in constructingAfrica’s transportation and communication infrastructure.

　　Africa has become China’s second largest overseasmarket for project contracting， after only other Asianmarkets. In 2012， China completed contracted projectsin Africa worth $40.83 billion， up by 13 percent from theprevious year.

　　From January to October 2013， the turnover of China’scompleted contracted projects in Africa reached $32.21billion， a year-on-year increase of 11.43 percent， withnewly signed projects totaling $46.8 billion， increasing22.48 percent compared to the same period of the previousyear. Angola， Algeria， Nigeria and Ethiopia are the majormarkets for China’s contracted engineering projects.

　　Deepening economic cooperation

　　Over the past few years， the pace of China-Africacooperation in sectors such as finance， aviation， tourism，commerce and logistics has picked up. Chinese financialinstitutions， like the Bank of China and the Industrial andCommercial Bank of China， expanded their operation tothe continent and set up branches there. China DevelopmentBank and the Export-Import Bank of China alsosent work teams to Africa. The China-Africa DevelopmentFund plays an active role in helping alleviate the cashpressure many African countries face as they furtherdevelopment. By the end of 2012， the fund has extendedcapital totaling $1.8 billion to 53 projects in over 20African countries.

　　To meet the growing demand for air transport， airlinecompanies from China and Africa， like China HainanAirlines and Ethiopian Airlines， have takeninitiatives in launching direct flights betweenthe two sides to facilitate exchangesof passengers and freights.

　　As China-Africa exchanges deepen， Chinesetourists traveling to Africa and Africanones to China are both on the rise. Since2009 when the China-Africa Science andTechnology Partnership Program waslaunched， China has initiated and strengthenedtechnical exchange and cooperationwith African countries， including technicaldemonstration and promotion， joint study，technical training and research facilities donation.Increasingly， China has become engagedin specific training programs andpersonnel exchange with African countries.

　　Economic restructuring breeding new opportunities

　　China and Africa will both embrace a promisingeconomic prosperity in the future.

　　The two sides are also devoting themselves to restructuring respective economies and optimizing the mode ofdeepening economic relations with foreign countries. Itis a mutual aspiration for them to gain new momentumfor economic growth through expanding foreign tradeand investment， accelerating industrial and technologicaltransfer as well as investing in service sectors like financeand commerce.

　　African countries and regional organizations in thecontinent value cross-border infrastructural constructionand regional economic integration. Chinese enterpriseshave gained numerous and useful experiences as well astechnological advantages in this regard， ensuring a promisingfuture for bilateral cooperation. These cooperationdemands will shore up future China-Africa economic andtrade cooperation toward a higher level.

　　Meanwhile， China-Africa cooperation will also encounterchallenges. Price volatility of bulk stock in internationalmarkets will have a profound impact on African countries，especially those rich in energy resources. African economieswill be influenced by developed and emergingeconomies. And political instability remains a threat toeconomic development.

　　In the future， China and Africa should seek moremomentum to boost their economic developmentand more opportunities for wider cooperation so as toimprove the quality of bilateral economic cooperation.

　　They should also make efforts to improve cooperationmechanisms by adapting it to new realities and introducinginnovations to optimize the cooperation pattern invarious areas through communication and exchanges onboth bilateral and multilateral platforms.