China refocuses on food and agriculture in its relations with Africa

China is importing more food products such as avocados, cashews, sesame seeds and chili peppers from Africa, after President Xi Jinping promised to increase non-resource imports from Africa and agriculture is emerging as the new focus of Beijing’s engagement with the continent.
In the first two months of this year, Shanghai ports handled more than 40,000 tonnes of African agricultural products worth more than US$100 million, according to Shanghai Customs. For example, by 3 March, 4.3 times more of African sesame had been imported through Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Port than in the same period last year, official data showed. Africa produces about 65% of the world’s sesame, and Chinese officials say African countries including Mali, Togo, Mozambique, Niger, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda account for 90% of China’s imports of the product.
A growing number of African products are in high demand in China as part of Beijing’s broader strategy to implement President Xi Jinping’s promise to increase non-resource imports from Africa.cDuring the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Dakar, Senegal, Xi promised to open up “green lanes” for African agricultural products, speed up inspection and quarantine, and waive more tariffs so that imports could hit US$300 billion by 2025. The Chinese foreign ministry has said that since the 2018 FOCAC summit in Beijing, China had given market access to 25 kinds of food and agricultural products from 14 African countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Benin and Egypt. China has said it is keen to import avocados, soybean, sesame seeds, chili peppers, cashews and spices — responding to accusations by Western countries that it promoted an unhealthy trade imbalance by mostly importing raw materials such as oil, cobalt and copper from Africa.