South Africa continues to maintain China's position as the largest trading partner in Africa. China | Africa | China
On August 23, the General Administration of Customs released data showing that in 2022, China's imports and exports to South Africa reached 377.13 billion yuan, an increase of 8.6% compared to the previous year; Since the beginning of this year, the bilateral trade between China and South Africa has further accelerated, with a total of 226.15 billion yuan in the first seven months, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%. South Africa continues to maintain China's position as the largest trading partner in Africa.
According to customs statistics, in the first seven months of this year, bilateral trade between China and South Africa accounted for 19.9% of China's total imports and exports to Africa, driving an overall growth of 2 percentage points in China's imports and exports to Africa. During the same period, Nigeria and Angola were China's second and third largest trading partners in Africa, with imports and exports of 95.29 billion yuan and 82.63 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 8.4% and 7.3% of the total trade value between China and Africa.
At the same time, facing the severe and complex international situation, China and Africa have joined hands and achieved fruitful results in economic and trade cooperation. China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. According to customs statistics, China's imports and exports to Africa in 2022 reached 1.87 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.8%; In the first seven months of this year, the scale of China Africa trade reached 1.14 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%, and the good development momentum continued.
Specifically, mechanical and electrical products such as ships and automobiles dominate China's exports to Africa. In the first seven months, China's exports to Africa amounted to 709.59 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%. Among them, the export of electromechanical products reached 355.16 billion yuan, an increase of 32.5%, accounting for 50.1% of China's total export value to Africa during the same period, driving the overall growth of exports to Africa by 14.7 percentage points; Ships and automobiles exported 24.39 billion yuan and 19.42 billion yuan respectively, with an increase of 81.3% and 26.1%.
The imported products are mainly crude oil, metal ore, and agricultural products. China is the largest export destination country in Africa, with imports of 426.65 billion yuan from Africa in the first seven months. Among them, crude oil, metal ore, unwrought copper, and copper materials were imported at 117.51 billion yuan, 115.08 billion yuan, and 57.37 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 68% of China's total imports from Africa during the same period. During the same period, non imported agricultural products amounted to 23.66 billion yuan, an increase of 20%, accounting for 5.5%.