New Two Way Trade Momentum Highlighted at China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Yiwu

As a key supporting event under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the gathering drew statesmen, diplomats and hundreds of Chinese and foreign business participants.

Building on eight years of accumulated progress and over 140 signed projects, the forum keeps focusing on delivering outcomes from the FOCAC Beijing Summit and aligning with the 10 partnership action plans.

Once again, it shined the global spotlight on Yiwu - a city with no seacoast nor border access, yet a pivotal hub for people-to-people China-Africa trade.

Inside the Yiwu International Expo Center, a three-day China-Africa trade exhibition opened ahead of the forum. Within its 10 000-square-metre hall sit 400 well-arranged booths, bringing together 186 enterprises from 15 countries.

Import-zone shelves are stocked with Ethiopian coffee, Ghanaian shea butter and Zimbabwean handicrafts. Meanwhile, a wide array of Chinese-made goods for household use, stationery, cultural-creative products and beauty cosmetics are ready to reach households across Africa.

More than two decades ago, Chinese and African merchants had to travel far and wide to source goods and secure buyers. Today, complete warehousing, customs-declaration and cross-border logistics allow exhibits to move straight from booths onto ocean-going vessels, closing the full loop from display to delivery.

Transformations extend well beyond exhibition halls.

Twenty years ago, most African traders in Yiwu acted purely as purchasers: they would fill shipping containers with selected goods and ship them back home.

On May 1 this year, China implemented zero-tariff treatment for 53 African diplomatic partners, further reshaping Sami's business landscape. Trade is no longer a one-way "sell-out" model. Seizing this policy dividend, he began importing local Ugandan specialties such as coffee beans and chili peppers into China. Via Yiwu's hub, these goods are then distributed to broader markets aboard the China-Europe Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Express.

"Zero tariffs give young Africans direct access to the Chinese market and make two-way trade far more actionable," Ugandan businessman Sami said, hoping more African traders will leverage Yiwu as a platform to bring African products to the wider world.

Like Sami, many entrepreneurs from diverse African nations regard Yiwu as their second home and serve as living, human-scale bridges connecting the two continents.

Official statistics bear witness to this shift. Between January and September 2026, Yiwu's exports to Africa reached 135.903 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year rise of 30.18 percent.

Historically, China-Africa trade largely featured Chinese goods flowing one-way toward Africa. Today trade chains are evolving into two-way pathways. African coffee, honey and avocados are finding growing room in China's consumer market. At the same time, Chinese enterprises are no longer content with merely delivering cargo to African ports.

Many firms are pushing supply-chain operations deeper into African local contexts. Local Yiwu-based supply-chain operators have set-up exhibition halls and 15 000-square-metre overseas warehouses in Senegal.

Conventional export business often concluded once goods departed Chinese ports. Now, end-to-end services including bulk procurement, overseas warehousing, local distribution and brand internationalisation travel alongside merchandise into Africa.

To date, Yiwu has established 28 overseas warehouses across 12 African countries. Together with offshore sub-markets and national-buyer service centers, a network spanning procurement, warehousing and distribution is taking shape, bridging Chinese supply capacity and African consumer demand.

In Yiwu, China-Africa cooperation finds tangible expression in shipping containers, grassroots commercial orders and ordinary people's pursuit of success.

Though land-locked, Yiwu links countless towns across the African continent. The Chinese city bears witness to China-Africa trade advancing past simple commodity transactions, entering a new era of co-built supply chains, mutual market access and people-to-people cultural bonds.

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