China Africa trade achieves historic breakthrough, opening up cooperation releases new momentum

From the acceleration of high-quality agricultural and food products from Africa entering Chinese household dining tables, to the deepening of China's new energy equipment, engineering machinery, and supporting services in the front line of African construction, China Africa economic and trade exchanges are showing distinct characteristics of two-way interaction and chain integration. According to customs data, in the first five months of this year, China's imports and exports to African countries reached 1.14 trillion yuan, breaking through 1 trillion yuan for the first time in history, a year-on-year increase of 18.2%. This historic breakthrough is not only about expanding trade scale, but also about observing its deep significance from structural changes: the import side highlights African characteristic products and resource endowments, the export side reflects China's equipment, technology, and industrial chain supporting capabilities, and the cooperation pattern of complementary supply and demand, industrial integration, and market connectivity between China and Africa becomes clearer.

Tariffs are reduced while trade vitality is increased. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. Starting from May 1st, China has fully implemented zero tariffs on 53 African countries with diplomatic relations, becoming the world's first major economy to unilaterally and comprehensively implement zero tariffs on all African countries with diplomatic relations and all least developed countries with diplomatic relations. The institutional costs of specialty products such as South African fruits, Ethiopian coffee, and Kenyan avocados entering the Chinese market have been further reduced. As early as 2005, China began granting zero tariff treatment to some products from the least developed countries in Africa; By 2025, China's imports and exports to Africa have reached 2.49 trillion yuan, an increase of 27.5 times from 87.38 billion yuan in 2000. The continuous upgrading of policies is transforming the dividends of openness into trade increments.

More noteworthy is that the 1.14 trillion yuan is not driven by a single category, but rather the result of synchronous expansion of supply and demand, and enhanced synergy in the industrial chain. From the perspective of exports, growth is not only reflected in daily consumer goods, but also in the increasing demand for intermediate goods, capital goods, and complete sets of equipment. In the first quarter, China's exports of intermediate goods, capital goods, and consumer goods to Africa increased by 23.3%, 43.5%, and 25% respectively. Among them, the rapid growth rate of capital goods indicates that the demand for equipment and comprehensive solutions in infrastructure construction, energy transformation, and manufacturing development in Africa is increasing; The sustained growth of intermediate goods reflects a closer connection between the local processing and manufacturing links and the Chinese industrial chain. From the perspective of imports, China imported 95.13 billion yuan from Africa in May, a year-on-year increase of 15%, marking the ninth consecutive month of growth; High quality specialty products such as fruits and aquatic products have increased by over 30% month on month. From this perspective, the key to future China Africa cooperation lies not in simple buying and selling, but in the "trade+industry chain": China's advantageous industries such as new energy equipment, energy storage, engineering machinery, and digital infrastructure will continue to serve Africa's development; Deep processing of agricultural products, cold chain logistics, green resource processing, local maintenance and operation, and skill training will also become important pivot points for Africa to enhance added value and expand exports to China.

The trillion dollar breakthrough in China Africa trade should also be observed in the context of China's continued expansion of opening-up. In the first five months, China's total import and export value of goods trade was 20.68 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%; Exports amounted to 11.91 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.8%; Imports amounted to 8.77 trillion yuan, an increase of 20.5%. Faced with the adjustment of the global economic and trade pattern and the rise of protectionism, China continues to expand its institutional opening-up, implementing zero tariff policies for 63 countries, increasing the number of free trade zones to 23, and normalizing the operation of open platforms such as the China International Import Expo and the China International Import Expo, providing more stable market expectations and broader docking space for China Africa cooperation.

As a landmark economic achievement at the beginning of the 15th Five Year Plan, China Africa trade surpassing the trillion yuan mark is just a new starting point. With the foundation of 70 years of friendship and the continuous iteration of open policies, the space for industrial integration and market interconnection between China and Africa will continue to expand. Based on the journey of Chinese path to modernization, we will continue to deepen China Africa all-round economic and trade cooperation, which will not only continue to benefit the people's livelihood of both sides, but also write new practices for global inclusive economic globalization through pragmatic and open action.