In May 2026, an ornamental fish from Egypt worth about 70,000 yuan enjoyed the dividends brought by the new policy as soon as it landed at Guangzhou Airport-the import tariff was directly reduced from 10% to zero.
In the same month, Starbucks in the Yangtze River Delta made a calculation for its imported Kenyan coffee beans: this alone is expected to reduce tariffs by millions of yuan throughout the year.
These micro signals scattered at ports and factories are converging into a macro node: in the first five months of 2026, the total import and export volume between China and African countries reached 1.14 trillion yuan, exceeding the 1 trillion yuan mark for the first time in history during the same period.
Core engine: The zero-tariff policy drove growth in the first month after its implementation
The core driving force for this breakthrough is the zero-tariff policy that will be officially implemented on May 1, 2026.
The policy implements zero tariffs on 100% of the tax items of 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with Africa, without quota restrictions and without any political conditions attached, making China the first major economy in the world to achieve unilateral full coverage of zero tariffs for all African countries that have diplomatic relations with Africa.
The pulling effect of the policy was clearly evident in the first month of implementation.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on June 9, in May, China imported 95.13 billion yuan from Africa, a year-on-year increase of 15%, maintaining growth for nine consecutive months.
From the perspective of imported categories, policy dividends have directly reduced the terminal costs of African specialty agricultural products in China: the original import tariff range for African coffee was 8% to 30%, and that for cashew nuts was 5% to 10%. After the full exemption, the procurement costs of import traders have been significantly reduced.
Taking Qingdao Port as an example, imports of African sesame in May exceeded 80,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of more than 50%. Every 100 tons of sesame imported can save 68,000 yuan in tariff costs.
Structural changes: from “resources for industry” to “two-way value embedding”
Behind the jump in trade scale, the structure of China-Africa import and export commodities is undergoing a qualitative leap.
On the export side, high-tech products have become the main export force to Africa.
In Dakar, the capital of Senegal, Chinese brand electric vehicles shuttle through the streets; in remote villages in Kenya, Chinese-made photovoltaic panels are supplying power to thousands of households.
Specifically, taking Hunan Province as a sample, exports of mechanical and electrical products to Africa in the first five months of 2026 were 7.13 billion yuan, an increase of 18.4%, accounting for 71.4% of the total export value; of which the “three new items” (electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells) were exported to 620 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 104.6%.
At the same time, African specialty agricultural products are accelerating their entry into the Chinese consumer market.
In May, high-quality specialty products such as fruits and aquatic products imported from Africa increased by more than 30% month-on-month.
Coffee imports increased by 139%, and wine imports increased by 24.7 times.
This model of two-way flow of industrial products and consumer goods, and resonance of industrial upgrading and improvement of people’s livelihood, marks that the cooperation between the two parties is moving from traditional commodity circulation to deep embedding in the industrial chain and supply chain.
Growth rate comparison: nearly 3 percentage points higher than the overall foreign trade, and momentum continues to increase
From a horizontal comparison, the China-Africa trade scale of 1.14 trillion yuan is not growing in isolation.
During the same period, China’s overall foreign trade import and export volume was 20.68 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of 15.3%.
The 18.2% year-on-year growth rate of China-Africa trade was 2.9 percentage points higher than the overall foreign trade, becoming an important driving force for foreign trade growth.
Comparing the full-year data for 2025 – China-Africa trade volume reached US$348.1 billion (approximately 2.48 trillion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 17.7%, a record high – the growth rate in the first five months of 2026 (18.2%) further accelerated, showing that growth momentum continues to increase.
Multiple voices: a global response to institutional openness
African local research institutions responded positively to this.
Jawad Keldoudi, president of the Moroccan Institute of International Relations, believes that zero tariffs are “a long-term, mutually beneficial and win-win strategic arrangement.” While reducing Africa’s trade deficit with China, it will continue to attract Chinese investment, introduce advanced technology to Africa, and create jobs.
Nelmin Tafik, coordinator of the Egyptian think tank Faros Center for Strategic Studies, pointed out that the policy “marks a structural change in the concept of China-Africa trade relations” and promotes both sides to move towards a more long-term economic partnership.
Alfred Shipke, director of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore, emphasized that zero tariffs will significantly enhance Africa’s export capabilities and help it integrate into the global value chain.
He Yadong, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said at a press conference on June 11 that in the context of unilateralism and protectionism that have brought difficult challenges to African countries, “China has taken full advantage of its ultra-large market and proactively opened its market to achieve common development.” Since its implementation, the measures have been generally welcomed by African countries and highly appreciated by the international community.
Follow-up space: Dividend release still has potential
The design period of the current round of zero-tariff policy is two years (May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2028), and China’s simultaneously upgraded supporting measures—including customs “green channels”, unified quarantine requirements, optimized access procedures, etc.—are continuing to reduce non-tariff costs.
Some analysts pointed out that after zero tariffs, if Africa’s exports to China are to achieve real expansion and quality improvement, they still need to solve practical problems such as backward logistics infrastructure and low product standardization.
Wei Jianguo, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and member of the Senior Expert Committee of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, believes that the core driving force comes from the consumer market dividends of Africa’s nearly 1.6 billion people, the demand for industrial transformation, and the convenience of market access brought by the zero-tariff policy.
The 1.14 trillion yuan in the first five months of 2026 may be just the starting point of a new growth cycle – when a trade channel distributed in 53 countries is systematically opened, the market force will eventually find its own path.
