On June 29, the General Administration of Customs released the “China-Africa Trade Index” for the first time during the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Fair. The index, with a base value of 100 points in 2000, will reach 990.55 points in 2022, showing a rapid and positive development trend and climbing to new heights. During the same period, the value of China’s import and export to Africa climbed from less than 100 billion yuan to 1.88 trillion yuan, with a cumulative increase of more than 20 times and an average annual growth rate of 17.7%. China has held the position of Africa’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In the first five months of this year, China-Africa trade continued its good momentum, with import and export value of 822.32 billion yuan, up 16.4% year-on-year.
General Administration of Customs spokesman, Director of the Department of Statistics and Analysis Lv Daliang said, “China-Africa Trade Index” compilation and regular release, can objectively reflect the reality of China’s trade with Africa, the development potential, to further promote the economic and trade exchanges between China and African countries to play a positive role. It will play a positive role in further promoting economic and trade exchanges between China and African countries.
Since 2000, China-Africa trade has been developing rapidly, expanding in scale and continuously improving in quality. The “China-Africa Trade Index” accurately captures and reflects the characteristics of China-Africa trade development:
The scale of trade has been rising. The scale of China-Africa trade index is constantly improving, with the index reaching 1855.16 in 2022, when the total import and export volume between China and African countries reached a historical high of 1.88 trillion yuan, up 14.5% year-on-year.
Trade ties are getting closer. The China-Africa trade closeness index fluctuates upward, peaking at 293.05 in 2021 and dropping slightly to 286.8 in 2022. 4.6% of China’s total exports to Africa in 2022, and nearly 15% of Africa’s total exports to China, making China the largest export destination for Africa.
The trade structure is full of highlights. Trade structure indicators are on an overall upward trend, reaching 143.69 in 2022. the main products of China’s exports to Africa are concentrated in electromechanical products, labor secret products and steel, etc., and the main products of China’s imports from Africa are energy, metal ores and agricultural products, etc.
Trade potential continues to increase. The trade potential indicator has always maintained an upward trend and will reach 761.04 in 2022, with active economic development and increasingly close economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. The development prospect of bilateral trade is broad.
The vitality of enterprises is increasing. China and Africa trade vitality indicators have maintained a good growth trend, reaching 833.11 in 2022. from the scale of enterprise import and export, large enterprises import and export value accounted for a year-on-year increase, about 90% in 2022; the number of small enterprises increased rapidly by about 10 times, from more than 10,000 in 2000 to more than 100,000 at present.
The “China-Africa Trade Index” shows the achievements of China-Africa trade development in an all-round way, and the long-standing spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation is distinctly molten in the continuous upward economic and trade curve, as introduced by Lv Daliang. As a “barometer” and “vane” of China-Africa trade development, it will provide scientific basis for government departments to formulate perfect trade policies, provide information support for import and export enterprises to make business decisions, and help China-Africa economic and trade cooperation reach a new level.