BEIJING - The biennial China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, provincial capital of Hunan in central China has realised a total of 120 deals worth US$10.3 billion were signed during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, capital of the central Chinese province of Hunan – significantly lower than previous events.
Some 99 cooperation projects valued at US$8.7 billion were unveiled at the four-day event that ended on Sunday, Chinese officials said. Of these, 74 were matchmaking initiatives launched by 11 African countries.
According to the Hunan provincial government, 15 economic and trade cooperation agreements and projects worth US$3.48 billion were signed on the spot at the Deep Cooperation Pioneer Zone Project Negotiation Conference, an expo side event.
Among them was an agreement to develop the China-Africa cashew nut industry which could yield more than US$200 million in revenue in the next three to five years.
Under the terms of the deal, Hunan, Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Group will import shelled cashews and other raw nut materials from Africa for processing, using its existing production capacity as well as the sales channels of its subsidiary Xiangfei International.
The company will also build supply chain infrastructure, including warehouses in Africa and strive to achieve revenue of more than 2 billion yuan (US$275 million) over three to five years.
At another expo side event – the China-Africa Infrastructure Cooperation Forum – 32 firms from China and Africa signed 19 agreements, valued at US$2.9 billion, covering transport, energy, communication, water conservancy, industry, and agriculture.
The projects included construction of the Republic of the Congo’s viaduct extension and the Tanger Tech Green Energy Park in Morocco.
The total fell short of initial estimates that the expo would generate US$19.1 billion worth of agreements, with their eventual value a drastic reduction on the previous two events.
The debut expo in 2019 attracted 84 cooperation projects worth US$20.8 billion, while 135 agreements worth US$22.9 billion were signed at the second event two years later.
This year’s expo attracted 53 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China. About 1,600 categories of goods from 29 African countries were on display, in response to an earlier promise by Beijing to allow more food products from Africa into the country.
Chinese customs data shows the volume of agricultural imports and exports between China and Africa increased from 33.3 billion yuan in 2012 to 58.6 billion yuan in 2022.
