Nigeria is the second destination of China’s exports, with $9.3 billion imports in 2012 trailing South Africa with $15.3 billion imports, a report by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has revealed.
Egypt also played a big role in Chinese exports to Africa which are closely correlated with the size of the continent’s individual markets, recording $8.2 billion in 2012.
Industrial supplies account for 32 percent of Nigeria imports from China while transport equipment and parts is 23 percent, capital goods, 24 percent; food and beverage, 11 percent and consumer goods.
According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its ‘External Sector Development Report for the fourth quarter of 2012’, aggregate exports rose by 3.5 percent from $23.39 billion in fourth quarter 2011 to $24.21 billion in quarter four 2012.
It declined relative to its level in the third quarter 2012 by 0.8 percent, while aggregate imports (CIF) declined by 20.5 percent to $12.79 billion, owing to the continued effects of the on-going reforms in the petroleum sub-sector.
China’s imports are dominated by oil and a few other commodities. Five energy exporters—Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Sudan—accounted for 40.3 percent of Chinese imports from Africa in 2012, with South Africa (a major iron-ore source) accounting for a further 39.4 percent. A handful of other big commodity exporters, including Zambia, Congo (Brazzaville) and the Democratic Republic of Congo provide the bulk of China’s remaining imports from the continent, EIU said.
Robin Bew, chief economist, said China’s imports from most African countries have grown impressively in the past five years except Gabon’s export which fell from $1.1 billion in 2007 to $618 million in 2012 and Sudan owing to South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
This, he said, differentiates between those countries that have seen relatively modest growth in exports to China, such as Congo (Brazzaville) and Equatorial Guinea, and those that have achieved a more explosive expansion in sales, such as South Africa, which has seen an increase in exports from $6.6 billion in 2007 to $44.6 billion in 2012. Moreover, some countries such as Kenya have yet to tap into Chinese demand to a significant extent.
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
