'Made in Jiangsu' is selling well in Africa

2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the official opening of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. From the banks of the Yangtze River to the hot land of Africa, Jiangsu's import and export scale to Africa has steadily expanded, and its trade structure has been continuously optimized. According to statistics from Nanjing Customs, from January to August this year, Jiangsu Province's imports and exports to Africa amounted to 155.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.5%.

The picture shows Changshu Customs officers conducting inspections on exported second-hand construction machinery and equipment. Lu Yan/Photography

I have just returned from Egypt and truly feel the friendly atmosphere of economic and trade exchanges between China and Africa, as well as the huge potential of the African market. It is a high-quality track for domestic manufacturing enterprises to go global, "said Shen Yifei, the customs officer of Jiangsu Fuwei Technology Co., Ltd. This is a national level specialized and new "little giant" enterprise that focuses on mid to high end copper based new materials. Its products mainly support emerging fields such as AI, new energy vehicles, and energy storage, and are exported to more than 30 countries and regions around the world. We have obtained AEO certification from the customs and carried out import processing trade, significantly improving the efficiency of goods clearance and significantly reducing the export costs of enterprises. From January to August this year, our product exports to the African market increased by over 1.5 times year-on-year. ”Shen Yifei said.

In order to assist enterprises in the jurisdiction to explore overseas markets in Africa, Wujiang Customs under Nanjing Customs conducted on-site research, provided targeted compliance guidance, guided enterprises in reasonable declaration of form losses, standardized processing and trade management processes, ensured the smooth and efficient operation of enterprise processing and trade manuals, and provided escort for local enterprises to deeply cultivate the African market.

In Gaoyou, Yangzhou, known as the "Hometown of Chinese Street Lights", Yangzhou Customs officers under Nanjing Customs conducted an export dangerous goods packaging identification on a batch of solar street light module packaging containing lithium batteries. After passing the appraisal and obtaining the appraisal results, this batch of solar street light modules will be sent to the African market for local public lighting.

Africa has abundant sunshine, but some areas have weak power infrastructure, and there is a strong demand for green and low-carbon lighting products in the market, "said Feng Zhaozhao, the foreign trade manager of Jiangsu Saixin Lighting Co., Ltd." We have accurately matched the local market demand and developed and launched a self-cleaning integrated solar street light. It can not only regularly clean the dust and debris on the photovoltaic panel surface, ensure the lighting efficiency of photovoltaic modules, but also be equipped with high-performance lithium battery packs, which are highly suitable for local outdoor use scenarios. From January to August this year, the company's export value to the African market reached 4 million yuan, and its export business to Africa has steadily expanded

While various products are accelerating their overseas expansion, market procurement and trade methods have opened up new channels for small and medium-sized businesses to explore the African market. Under the supervision of Changshu Customs under the jurisdiction of Nanjing Customs, a batch of second-hand forklifts worth $64000 from Xinzhiyuan Machinery Trading Company in Mocheng Street, Changshu City were successfully shipped to Morocco in Africa through market procurement and trade. These second-hand forklifts are in good condition, with prices only one-third of new ones, and African customers are very satisfied, "said Li Gen, the owner of the business.

At present, domestic construction machinery and equipment have entered a cycle of stock renewal, while the demand for infrastructure in Africa is strong, and the export space for second-hand construction machinery to Africa is vast. At a customs enterprise dialogue meeting, Changshu Customs, a subsidiary of Nanjing Customs, learned that the Changshu Market Procurement Comprehensive Service Platform "Shicaitong" plans to expand the export business of second-hand machinery and equipment. It immediately launched the "door-to-door delivery policy" service mechanism, actively connected with relevant port customs, innovated the "market ordering+port direct delivery" model, and realized the collection and export of goods near the source of goods. The market procurement and trade policy has precisely solved the most troublesome problem of missing input invoices for second-hand machinery, allowing small-scale operators like us to accept orders from Africa in compliance, "Li Gen said with a smile.

Next, Nanjing Customs will continue to focus on the urgent needs and concerns of enterprises, continuously optimize regulatory services, release policy dividends, support more Jiangsu enterprises to seize opportunities for China Africa cooperation, and continuously expand the breadth and depth of Jiangsu's economic and trade cooperation with Africa.