Efforts by Hunan province to position itself as a hub for China-Africa trade are bearing fruit, with a record 90.4 per cent trading increase to US$3.14 billion in the first four months of 2023 on the same period last year.
Private enterprises are driving the boost, with 1,471 companies accounting for 20 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) - more than 90 per cent of Hunan's African trade total - over the period, according to Changsha Customs data.
The number of Hunan companies trading with Africa so far this year is also on the rise, increasing by 18 per cent to 1,558 compared to the first four months of last year.
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While Hunan's trade with Africa is only 3.4 per cent of the Chinese total, the province's results stem from a range of initiatives intended to grow its trading links with African countries.
The landlocked province in central China was the first to establish the "green lanes" to boost agricultural imports from Africa, proposed by President Xi Jinping at the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal.
These included an easing of import-export rules with African countries, the establishment of a currency clearing hub and trade deals with agricultural producers in Africa.
African agricultural exports to Hunan increased 16.6 times to 150 million yuan (US$21.32 million) in the first four months of 2023, as the province opened to more products, such as avocados from Kenya and dried chillies from Rwanda.
The Hunan government said imports of natural and synthetic rubber, as well as food, had posted a "robust" increase.
Hunan is one of several Chinese provinces backing business investment in Africa to boost two-way trade, in line with central government policy. The China-Africa Business Council reported last year that Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangsu also saw increases, despite the economic impact of the pandemic.
But Hunan is also keen to highlight its historical ties with the continent - including its status as the birthplace of Mao Zedong, who laid the foundations for China's foreign policy that heavily favours developing countries, including in Africa.
The provincial government has issued a number of readouts in recent years promoting these deep roots, including a statement on Yuan Longping - China's most prominent plant scientist under Mao - who took his best achievements of hybrid rice to Africa and spent most of his working life in Hunan.
The province's lawmakers passed regulations to guide the building of a free-trade zone as well as a distribution, trading and processing centre for African non-resource products. They also approved a "green customs clearance" system for African imports.
Bills were also approved for the expansion of passenger and cargo networks from the provincial capital Changsha to major African aviation hubs, and the development of a river-sea transport relay route to major ports in Africa.
In 2021, authorities in Hunan's industrial hub of Zhuzhou set up the China-Africa Rail-Sea Express Company, marking a new step in the combined transport channel to Africa via Nansha port in the southern province of Guangdong.
The channel is mainly used to move grain, seed, vehicle parts, chemicals and construction machinery, with the first phase covering 11 seaports in Africa and 20 roads and railways leading into the continent's interior.
Authorities are also hoping a cargo route between Addis Ababa and Changsha - established by Ethiopian Airlines to handle an estimated annual throughput of 17,000 tonnes of cargo - will turn Hunan into a major China-Africa trade and logistics hub.
Lauren Johnston, a China-Africa researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg, said Hunan had complementary industries with Africa, and was also not close to China's coast or land borders.
"In this way, where it succeeds within China in developing and advancing its economy and prosperity, it becomes a model for landlocked African economies, to some extent," she said.
Johnston said Hunan was known for its construction, rail and heavy industry manufacturers - including Sany, the giant industrial machinery and equipment company.
"It has a very established and historic agricultural industry thanks to its vast river network, and is home not only to [Yuan] the father of China's green revolution who invented its successful hybrid rice, but also to the current head of the [UN Food and Agriculture Organization] Qu Dongyu," she said.
Johnston said that in terms of construction, transport via the province's railway companies, and agriculture, Hunan was home to industries relevant to Africa, and was also adept at agricultural processing.
"So it can process arriving African agricultural products too, fostering agricultural trade and development for Africa in the process, helping China itself with food security," she said.
So far this year, most of Hunan's African trade was with South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. Resource-rich South Africa accounted for a fifth of the province's total trade with all African countries, while trade with Nigeria and Egypt soared 182.5 per cent and 282.5 per cent, respectively year on year.
Exports of superior products such as mechanical and electrical and labour-intensive goods surged during the period.
Hunan exported 6.22 billion yuan (US$880 million) worth of mechanical and electrical products to Africa, up 191.6 per cent year-on-year and accounting for more than one-third of the province's total exports to African countries.
Exports of textiles, clothing and other labour-intensive products rose by 146.3 per cent to 5.58 billion yuan (US$790 million). Hi-tech exports surged to 880 million yuan (US$124 million), an increase of 144.4 per cent on the same period last year.
The province is eyeing the prospect of more trade deals in June, when Changsha hosts the third China-Africa Economic Trade Exhibition - the first since Covid-19 and only the second to be held as a fully in-person event.
Officials have been visiting a number of African countries to sell the show, which is permanently hosted by Changsha and supported by China's Ministry of Commerce through its trade development bureau.
The inaugural event in 2019 led to the signing of 84 cooperation deals valued at US$20.8 billion, covering trade, investment, infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, aviation, and tourism. The second - online - forum resulted in deals worth US$15.93 billion.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
