(Ecofin Agency) - The slight drop in Africa's trade deficit with China does not show a change in what Africa is exporting. That is mainly because prices for raw materials like gold, copper, and coffee have gone up.

Trade between China and Africa reached $295.56 billion in 2024, growing by 4.8% compared to 2023, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs.

Chinese exports to Africa rose by 3.5% last year, totaling $178.76 billion. Meanwhile, imports from Africa to China reached $116.79 billion, a 6.9% increase from 2023.

As a result, Africa’s trade deficit with China narrowed to $61.93 billion in 2024, down from $64 billion the previous year. However, structural imbalances in the trade relations between the two regions remain. The decrease in the trade deficit mainly reflects an increase in the value of China’s imports of certain raw materials, while African countries have been calling for more imports of processed products.

During the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa urged China to work on balancing its trade relations with Africa by addressing the structure of its imports.

Lauren Johnston, a China and Africa expert and associate professor at the China Studies Center at the University of Sydney, told the South China Morning Post that the increase in Chinese imports from Africa last year was mainly due to the rise in prices of certain raw materials highly demanded by China.

"Gold, copper, cocoa, and coffee prices increased. Last year, coffee reached its highest price since 1977 due to a combination of higher demand and poor weather conditions in Brazil and Vietnam," she explained.

China has also increased imports of agricultural products from Africa, including avocados, soybeans, pineapples, peppers, cashews, sesame seeds, and spices.

Chinese exports to Africa are mainly finished products like textiles, clothing, machinery, and electronics, while African exports to China consist mostly of raw materials such as crude oil, copper, cobalt, and iron ore, which creates a chronic trade surplus for China.

To address this trade imbalance, China has removed tariffs on 98% of products imported from 21 African countries, including Ethiopia, Guinea, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Togo. Since December 1, 2024, it has also applied zero tariffs on all imports from the least developed countries (LDCs) with which it has diplomatic relations, including 33 African nations.

These successive tariff reductions follow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement at the 8th FOCAC Ministerial Conference in Dakar in November 2021, where he stated that China planned to increase imports of African agricultural products. At that time, he set a goal to raise China’s total imports from Africa to $100 billion per year starting in 2022 and to $300 billion annually by 2035.