Africa trade volumes fell by 40 percent from US$215 billion in 2014 to just $128 billion in 2016. Rebalancing the trade flow would involve greater exports of a range of products from economies on the continent.
Now African countries like Egypt are trying to either get in or expand market access in China. Ideally, focusing on manufactured, industrial goods is the traditional way of building an export-led economy. However, manufacturing sectors across most African economies (with the exception of Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and a few others) tend to be small and troubled by issues like poor logistics and high energy costs.
Some entrepreneurs, such as Haitham El Sadany from Egypt, are already exporting citrus fruits to China. He said that China is a big market which gets citrus from Egypt, South Africa, and even America.
Exporting fruits is one aspect, but most governments would prefer to export finished, value-added produce. Kellogg’s, for instance, uses Egypt as a manufacturing base for breakfast cereals that are exported as far as Japan. China, however, is a market they’re yet to get into.
Khaled Shawky, the export director for Kellogg’s in Egypt, pointed out that even though they export to other markets, it is vital to understand the local consumption preferences here in China: “We are here to test the Chinese market and to know the culture of the people better.”
Source: africa.cgtn.com
