China-Angola trade dips amid global instability
Bilateral relations remain strong despite the expected 20 percent drop in trade, which sits at just US$18.9 billion for the year so far.
Trade between Angola and China is projected to fall by 20 percent compared to 2022, in part due to the global financial crisis, reports Lusa.
Luís Cupenala, president of the Angola-China Chamber of Commerce, revealed the projection on the sidelines of a recent international conference hosted in Luanda. He explained that trade between the two countries, which totalled US$27.3 billion in 2022, sits at just US$18.9 billion for the first 10 months of this year.
Cupenala pointed to the international financial crisis as the cause, noting that while the dip is “extremely worrying” it is part of a cycle, rather than a growing trend. Consistent relations between Angola and China look likely to deepen, he said, spurred by new private investment.
[See more: Subsistence family farming dominates the agricultural sector in Angola]
Among the nine Portuguese-speaking countries, Angola remains China’s second-largest trade partner after Brazil. The South American nation conducted US$148 billion in trade with China during the same 10-month period.
Cupenala spoke of the need for Angola to diversify its economy, emphasising investment in agriculture over continued dependence on oil, the main export product for China currently. Sizable investments by Chinese companies have already begun to build up domestic production in the agricultural province of Malanje.
The “aggressiveness” of Chinese investment in agriculture and other key sectors, outside the oil sector, has been encouraging to Cupenala. “I’m sure that as the market gains confidence, more investments will also take place in this area of agriculture and farming.”
