On April 15, the 139th China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) officially opened in Guangzhou.
Amid the fluctuating global trade situation, countries co-building the Belt and Road Initiative have become one of the main participants in this Canton Fair, with approximately 140,000 pre-registered buyers.
<img src="https://media.yunentropy.com/imgs/2026/01/08/fHsLlbXzL.jpg"
alt="Canton Fair scene"
The global payment platform PingPong has unveiled its newly upgraded one-stop global payment solution, focusing on emerging markets such as Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, launching local account functions and supporting services, and using its professional payment capabilities to help foreign trade companies seize the economic and trade opportunities of the “Belt and Road” and accelerate the development of emerging markets.
According to customs statistics, China’s import and export volume to Africa will reach 2.49 trillion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 18.4%. The growth rate far exceeds that of Europe and the United States, showing strong market potential.
The overseas journey of Anhui Serek Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Cerek”) is the epitome of Chinese foreign trade companies’ deep exploration of the African market.
In 2015, Su Jian, general manager of Serek, set foot on Nigerian soil for the first time.
The sight in front of him surprised and excited him: the road surface was mostly sandy and gravel, and vehicle bumps caused accelerated wear of chassis parts; the oil quality was poor, and fuel pumps and chassis parts were replaced frequently; most of the cars on the road were second-hand cars – this market contained a lot of opportunities.
From 2015 to 2025, Serek has rapidly developed from a domestic trade company into a large enterprise with annual foreign trade sales exceeding 200 million yuan, with overseas warehouses in Nigeria, Kenya, and Pakistan, and annual revenue maintaining a steady growth of 15%-20%.
Since 2018, the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira has begun to fluctuate significantly, with the exchange rate against the RMB once falling from more than 300 to more than 400.
Coupled with the government’s increasingly strict foreign exchange controls, normal bank remittance channels are blocked, and Serek can only exchange U.S. dollars or RMB through offline transactions.
“One price a day,” Su Jian said, “We can only sell today and exchange for foreign exchange today, but the loss caused by exchange rate fluctuations is at least 10 points.” In 2023, the Nigerian electronic fraud crisis caused foreign trade companies to frequently freeze cards, which also caused a loss of more than 1 million yuan to Serek.
“Although we are used to collectively referring to the African continent, for foreign trade companies, it is by no means a single market, but 54 highly fragmented ‘islands of capital’.” Peng Zhong, product operations director of PingPong, pointed out at the foreign trade company exchange meeting with Africa that the concept of “Pan-Africa” must be abandoned and the nature of trade with Africa is to deal with dozens of economies with completely different levels of foreign exchange controls, inflation rates, and sovereign credit. “It is impossible to penetrate Africa with one system.”
In view of the core payment pain points of trade with Africa, such as strict foreign exchange control, large exchange rate fluctuations, high risk of compliance card freezing, and low efficiency of transfers and remittances, PingPong has built a self-built global payment network.
A complete set of exclusive African foreign trade payment solutions, the launch of “African local accounts” – through direct connection with the official clearing networks of African countries, Chinese companies can have compliant local collection accounts in the local area, realize direct collection of local currency, and fundamentally improve collection efficiency and payment security.
“Take Ghana as an example. We are the first to connect to the GhIPSS Instant Pay network. With the core advantages of real-time clearing and 24/7 uninterrupted service, we can help companies increase their capital turnover efficiency by more than 300%.” Peng Zhong said that local accounts handle funds compliantly through the local clearing network, which not only avoids the risk of cash withdrawal delays caused by foreign exchange controls, but also improves the security of corporate profit repatriation by 90%. It also supports the company’s account with the same name for collection, effectively enhancing the trust of overseas buyers in cooperation.
It is reported that by the end of September this year, the above-mentioned local account functions will cover 20 countries in Africa.
Currently, Serek has launched this product simultaneously in Nigeria and Kenya.
Su Jian said that PingPong’s local account opened up a direct exchange link of “Naira-USD-RMB”, which greatly improved the efficiency of capital turnover; at the same time, with the help of the exchange lock function, it helped Serek successfully reduce exchange losses by more than 10 points.
“More importantly, the funds flow throughout the compliance system, which is transparent and traceable. This completely eliminates the risk of card freezing, allowing us to devote ourselves to the expansion of new markets.”
On the premise of compliance with the compliance of holding more than 60 payment licenses and qualifications, PingPong
Through in-depth cooperation with global systemically important banks and leading financial institutions in regional markets, the service form of “One PingPong account connects the world” has been realized, which can provide enterprises with a one-stop global payment solution that integrates collection, payment, remittance, management, and supply chain financing.
Peng Zhong introduced that the solution comprehensively covers emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, and supports various transaction scenarios such as goods trade, one-piece procurement, and service trade. It can handle the collection, payment, and exchange of currencies in Singapore dollars, Thai baht, ringgit, naira, rand, shillings, dirhams, pesos, and other local currencies. It is also adaptable to mainstream payment methods such as local payment, LC, T/T, and letters of credit.
Up to now, PingPong has opened nearly 20 local currency accounts in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions. With a complete local payment network, it has laid a solid payment foundation for foreign trade companies to go overseas to emerging markets.
It is reported that as of the end of 2025, PingPong’s cumulative transaction volume for foreign trade companies exporting to countries involved in the “Belt and Road Initiative” has increased by 110% compared with the end of the previous year.
Among them, the transaction scale of exports to the African market increased by nearly 200% month-on-month, and the transaction scale of exports to the Middle East and Latin America increased by 180% month-on-month.
