Some African Traders Leaving China

Pambazuka News published on 9 March 2018 a commentary titled "African Traders in China: Is the Honeymoon Over?" by Daouda Cisse, independent researcher based in Canada.

In the last couple of years small numbers of African traders living in China have been leaving. The author argues that those who are leaving are concerned about overstaying their visas compounded by a more difficult business climate following the drop in world commodity prices. China's economic restructuring reportedly is not a significant factor.

China, Africa, Commodities, and Economic Slowdown

The Financial Times published on 5 October 2015 an article titled "Africa Ties with China Are About More Than Raw Materials" by David Pilling.  This is a generally optimistic account suggesting that China's economic slowdown, lower commodity prices, and decreasing Chinese demand for commodities will not harm African countries that used the boom era in commodity exports to diversify their economies. 

The article points repeatedly to Ethiopia, which exports few commodities anyway, as the country which prepared for this eventuality.  The problem is that few, if any, major African commodity exporting countries prepared for a sharp drop in commodity prices and decreased demand from China.  Of Africa's 54 countries, you can probably count the Ethiopias on one hand.  More troubling, Ethiopia's trade relationship with China is far from ideal.  In  2013, Ethiopia imported more than $2 billion in products from China and exported less than $300 million worth of goods to China.  This is not a recipe for a sustainable trade relationship.