ABSTRACT
This paper investigates the China-Africa trade relationship which deepened
since the year 2000 and became very productive in recent years. The paper
scrutinizes the terms of trade, the investments made by China, and also the
loans that African countries benefited from China. The analysis of the
available data revealed that China has become an essential trade partner for
Africa and between 2007 and 2017 mostly exported consumer goods, intermediate goods
and also capital goods to Africa and imported raw materials and natural
resources form African countries, with a favorable trade balance to China. From
the year 2011 to 2017, South Africa appeared as the biggest trade partner of
China in Africa, for the fact that it is the largest African exporter to China,
followed by Angola, Congo, DR Congo, and Zambia, and also the largest importer
of Chinese products, followed by Nigeria, Egypt, and Algeria. The paper also
indicates that 15 African countries account for 80% of the Chinese FDI flow,
led by South Africa with 19.04% of the total FDI over the period 2003-2017.
Nigeria has the second position with 7.74%, followed by Zambia (7.55%), DRC
(6.65%), Algeria (6.4%) and Sudan (5.28%). In addition, 15 African countries
totalize 83% of the Chinese loans, with Angola in the first position with
29.89% of the total amount of loans given by China between the years 2000 and
2017. Ethiopia follows with 9.58%, then Kenya (6.84%) and Congo (5.18). The
study recommends the diversification of export partners for some African
countries that highly rely on exporting to China, encourages intra African
trade as a diversification solution, and calls for more intra industry trade between China and
African countries.