Category: Agriculture

Agriculture remains the backbone of many African economies since it accounts for approximately 60% of all employment, a main earner of foreign exchange, source of both savings and tax revenues and accounts for around 40% of the continent’s hard currency. The agricultural sector is the main source ...

China may be trying to transition to a services-led high technology economy that doesn't rely as much on manufacturing but that shift will take years. In the meantime, Chinese factories still need to rely on vast amounts of minerals, metals, and other mining products to bolster their ...

Back in September 2020, President Xi Jinping announced China would aim for carbon neutrality by 2060, followed by setting more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2030. Such bold commitments appeared to reflect Beijing progressing towards adopting climate-friendly policies, premised on low-carbon and renewable technologies. ...

There's been a lot of discussion over the past year about China's desire to eliminate its dependence on Australian iron ore in favour of supplies from countries like Guinea, Algeria, South Africa and Brazil among others. China has been steadily trying ...

Joseph Boahen Aidoo (photo) is working hard to allay fears among Ghanaian farmers that China's (still very small) emergence as a cocoa exporter is not a threat to their livelihoods.  The CEO of the Ghanaian Cocoa Board, a group that represents ...

I was recently out shopping in Hangzhou to buy a bottle of wine as a birthday gift for a friend. Now, I’m no wine connoisseur, so admittedly I struggled to pick one. But while scanning the shelves, I spotted a bottle from South Africa. It struck me ...

These are good days for Africa's metals and mineral exporters, who are seeing record prices thanks to strong demand, in part, from China and international automakers that produce new energy vehicles. The timing for this latest "commodity supercycle," ...

Months after news broke that China had entered into the global cocoa market with an initial delivery of 500 kilograms of beans shipped to Belgium from the southern island of Hainan, Ghanaians are still trying to figure out whether they have reason to be ...

The editorial board of Financial Times published an op-ed yesterday announcing a new commodities supercycle. They argued that the global pivot towards climate-friendlier technologies like electric vehicles is pushing demand for metals like cobalt, lithium and palladium (used in catalytic converters.) In addition, the Biden administration’s new commitments ...

Chinese customs authorities granted approvals to 49 Tanzanian soybean companies this week to begin exporting their crop to China. While the opening of this new market could prove to be very lucrative for Tanzanian farmers, it's unlikely that it'll have much impact on China's soybean imports that ...

When most people think about the major centers of Sino-Africa engagement, cities like Guangzhou and Beijing tend to come to mind first. How about Changsha? Well, not so much. But if you're not familiar with what's going on in Changsha and ...

Whilst COVID-19 disrupted trade flows across the globe and pushed industries into financial trouble, the South African wine sector has, somewhat remarkably, been spared. This is largely due to wine exports to China soaring by 50% after Beijing enforced a 212% tariff on Australian wines ...