The 2025 China-Africa Trade Rundown

A conveyor belt carries chunks of Raw cobalt after a first transformation at a plant in Lubumbashi on February 16, 2018, before being exported, mainly to China, to be refined. To Promulgate or not to promulgate? Congolese President Joseph Kabila is playing with the nerves of markets and lobbies by continuing the suspense around the reform of the mining code which plans to multiply by five a tax on cobalt. The Democratic republic of Congo is the leading cobalt producer providing 67% of the increasing global demand. (Photo by SAMIR TOUNSI / AFP)

In 2025, trade between China and Africa reached $348 billion, a 17.7% increase from 2024. As in the previous year, this growth was largely driven by rising Chinese exports, which amounted to $225 billion, compared to $123 billion in imports from the African continent.

Another trend: export growth far outpaced import growth. Chinese exports to Africa rose by 25.8%, while imports grew by just 5.4%. That means imports grew at an even slower pace than in 2024, when imports grew by 6.9%.

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by Christian Geraud Neema Byamungu

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