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Category: Agriculture

Finally! Kenyan Avocados Make It to China

The first batch of Kenyan avocados will soon appear on store shelves in Shanghai. This follows last week's arrival of the fruit after more than three years of prolonged, often difficult negotiations. All of the negotiations, testing, and ...

Star Power Boosts Rwandan Coffee in Online Sales Session

The famous Chinese actress Liu Tao recently hosted a live sale of Rwandan coffee on Alibaba’s e-commerce website Taobao. She sold 500kg of coffee beans in 5 minutes. It usually takes two to three months to sell that much on e-commerce sites. ...

“Food Diplomacy” is the New “Vaccine Diplomacy” in Africa

If 2021 was the year of so-called "vaccine diplomacy" in Africa where the world's major powers stingily distributed COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries while preaching to their geopolitical rivals, 2022 is going to be the year of "food diplomacy."  ...

Nigerian Garment Union Calls Out Local Officials in Fight Against Cheap Chinese Imports

Nigeria’s national union of textile workers is complaining about the complicity of customs officials in the flooding of the local market by Chinese textiles. While cheap imports from China have long been blamed for undercutting the local garment sector, the National Union of Textile, Garment, and Tailoring ...

China’s Australia Tensions a Win for South African Wines 

South Africa doubled its exports of wine to China last year, following the souring of relations between Beijing and its biggest wine seller, Australia. While we’ve seen sporadic reports of how Western Cape wine farmers are leaning into their ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

India Could Ban Cheap Chinese Phones

The Indian government could push Chinese mobile phone manufacturers out of the lower end of its market, according to a new report by Bloomberg. The possible ban is reportedly aimed at boosting India’s failing domestic phone makers in the lucrative sub-12,000 rupee ($150) sector. 

The move will be a blow to Chinese companies like Xiaomi, RealMe, and Transsion, who make up 80% of sales in the sub-$150 sector. Low-end smartphones occupy a third ...

Could China’s Grain Hoard Become a Geopolitical Tool?

Russia’s war on Ukraine is increasingly being hitting African food security, and raising political tensions in the process. For example, Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat and gets half of its supply from Russia and Ukraine. This is also true for Kenya, which imports 30% of ...

Chinese Tastes Shaping South African Wine-Making

South African winemakers are increasingly tailoring their products to the tastes of the Chinese market. South Africa’s share of China’s wine market was less than 1% in 2019. However, it’s grown rapidly, thanks to China’s massive tariffs on Australian wine. Before the trade war, Australia accounted ...

Almost 2/3 of Africa’s Exports to China Last Year Came From Just Three Countries

The highly distorted nature of China-Africa trade in 2021 was the subject of a series of compelling charts and infographics published on Tuesday by the online financial news site Quartz. African exports, in particular, stood out. Only three ...

Rwanda’s Ambassador to China is Becoming an Innovative Pitchman for His Country’s Coffee Industry

If African countries are going to close their gaping trade deficits with China they'll have to find new ways to sell more of their goods to Chinese consumers. And James Kimonyo thinks he knows how. Kimonyo, Rwanda's Ambassador to China, is emerging ...

Uganda’s Museveni Calls on China to Grant Full Duty-Free Access For African Products

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called on China to further expand duty-free access to its vast market for African products. In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News, the president acknowledged that China does already provide some tax-free privileges to African products, but now he'd like ...
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