Reshaping China-Africa Trade

Trade between China and Africa is receiving a major boost this year as the two sides celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. In February, China announced that, starting from 1 May, it will extend zero-tariff treatment across all tariff lines to 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic ties. At the same time, China will continue to advance the conclusion of Economic Partnership Agreements for Shared Development and upgrade "green channels" and other facilitation measures aimed at further expanding market access for African exports.

Since 1 December 2024, China has granted zero-tariff treatment to 100 percent of tariff lines for all least developed countries with diplomatic relations with China, including 33 African nations. In June 2025, China further clarified that it would extend this arrangement to 53 African partner countries through the negotiation of innovative free trade agreements. The 20 newly included countries include South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia, among others.

Quality products

Zero-tariff treatment does more than expand trade volume; it optimises the composition of traded goods. Figures from China's General Administration of Customs show that energy and minerals remain central, but exports of African agricultural and consumer goods are rising fast. In 2024, China-Africa agricultural trade surpassed 70 billion yuan ($10.3 billion), with imports from Africa reaching 37 billion yuan ($5.4 billion). In the first five months of 2025 alone, China imported 15.83 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) worth of African agricultural products. Imports of coffee, cocoa beans and frozen strawberries rose sharply, increasing by 145.7 percent, 88.6 percent and 82 percent respectively.

Zero tariffs are sharpening price competitiveness for African exports, particularly in agriculture, speciality foods and light consumer goods. China's imports are also diversifying beyond oilseeds and citrus into higher-value produce, including coffee from East Africa and cocoa from West Africa.

New market access is accelerating this shift. Since the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit, 31 agricultural and food products from 19 African countries have entered the Chinese market. Kenyan avocados are expected to see a major export surge, potentially reaching 40 percent of national output, while Madagascar's frozen mutton entered China for the first time in 2024, opening a new meat export category.

At the same time, changes in trade structure are beginning to reshape supply chains and industrial organisation. Between 2021 and 2025, China's direct investment in Africa has remained above $3 billion annually, alongside continued progress in economic and trade cooperation zones and industrial chain collaboration. What is likely to expand in the future is not the wholesale relocation of heavy manufacturing, but the development of upstream and midstream segments such as packaging, cold-chain storage, primary processing, quality inspection and logistics hubs. Chinese enterprises have already established cocoa processing operations in Côte d'Ivoire and built cold storage and drying facilities for chilli production in Rwanda. These developments signal a shift from a "resources-market" model towards a more integrated "production-processing-consumption" framework.

African countries are at different stages of development. While some have stronger industrial bases and scalable, higher-value exports, others, particularly least developed countries, face structural bottlenecks in export capacity. These include supply capability, standards compliance, certification, traceability, logistics and trade finance, often preventing products from reaching markets or orders from being fulfilled consistently.

Building support systems

For zero-tariff treatment to deliver real impact, it must translate into enhanced capabilities. In other words, policy dividends need to drive capacity building. Tariff elimination opens opportunities, but it is the supporting systems that determine whether those opportunities can be fully utilised.

To that end, economic and trade cooperation mechanisms are being strengthened alongside tariff reduction. China will continue to advance Economic Partnership Agreements for Shared Development, providing a clearer framework for rule alignment, standards recognition and trade and investment facilitation. At the same time, upgraded "green channels" aim to address practical bottlenecks, ensuring African products enter the Chinese market smoothly and efficiently. This reflects a broader approach to opening up: expanding access while strengthening rule alignment, capacity building and industrial collaboration.

For many African firms, accessible and standardised guidelines are essential for lowering the cost of compliance and raising the scale of trade. Priority should be given to improving transparency and replicability in key areas such as product access, inspection and quarantine, and standards certification. Clearer, more structured and process-based rules can significantly reduce uncertainty and time costs for exporters.

Improvements in supporting infrastructure, including ports, shipping networks, overseas warehouses and cold-chain systems, are crucial for ensuring stable delivery capacity and reliable transport times, particularly for perishable and seasonal goods. Delays in customs clearance, disruptions in cold chains or insufficient storage capacity can erode value, even under zero-tariff conditions. Integrating infrastructure development with trade facilitation therefore represents a dual strategy of reducing tariffs while increasing efficiency.

Trade facilitation needs to be tied to deeper industrial cooperation. Strengthening value chain collaboration, from processing and manufacturing to quality management, branding and cross-border e-commerce, can boost local value addition and create jobs. This improves both the quality and sustainability of cooperation. For many African countries, expanding raw material exports brings limited gains; greater benefits lie in extending cooperation to industrial support, standards development and market expansion.

Looking ahead, China-Africa trade needs to evolve from a model based primarily on complementarity to one characterised by upgrading. By improving quality, increasing value-added processing and strengthening branding, more African products can enter the Chinese market in higher-value forms. This will boost export earnings for African countries while enriching supply diversity in China, creating a more balanced and mutually beneficial relationship.

In a global environment increasingly shaped by protectionist pressures, China's comprehensive zero-tariff arrangement for 53 African countries sends a clear signal. It demonstrates a commitment to countering protectionism through greater openness, supporting the development agenda of the Global South with stable trade expectations, and promoting a more balanced international division of labour through sustainable market opportunities.

The authors are Zhang Sai, Research Fellow, Zhejiang Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era (Zhejiang Normal University Base), and Wang Heng, Deputy Director, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University