China's apparel exports to Africa twice the imports in Jan–Mar 2025

China’s exports to Africa rose by 20.2 per cent to 599.57 billion yuan ($83 billion) in the first five months, while its imports from the continent increased by 1.6 per cent to 363.64 billion yuan (~$51 billion). The total trade volume grew by 12.4 per cent year-on-year during January–May to 963.21 billion yuan (~$134 billion), accounting for 5.4 per cent of the country’s total foreign trade, as per Chinese media reports.

As per Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro, China’s apparel exports to Africa stood at $1,773.718 million, making up 5.60 per cent of China’s total garment exports of $31.668 billion in the first quarter of the current year. In contrast, China imported apparel worth $51.042 million from Africa during the same period, which was 2.36 per cent of its total apparel imports of $2,165.627 million.

In the same quarter of 2024, China exported garments worth $1,880.140 million to Africa and imported apparel worth $56.770 million from the continent. Africa’s share in China’s total garment exports during that period was 5.78 per cent, while its share in imports was 2.38 per cent.

For the full year 2024, China’s apparel exports totalled $153.408 billion, of which $7.256 billion (4.73 per cent) was shipped to Africa. Apparel imports from Africa during the year amounted to $208.323 million, representing 2.13 per cent of China’s total apparel imports of $9.757 billion.

In 2023, China’s apparel exports totalled $156.408 billion and imports $9.298 billion. Exports to Africa were valued at $9.142 billion (5.86 per cent), while imports from the continent stood at $213.123 million (2.79 per cent). In 2022, China exported $167.868 billion worth of apparel and imported $9.571 billion. Of this, exports to Africa were $7.995 billion (4.76 per cent) and imports from Africa amounted to $193.126 million (2.02 per cent), according to TexPro.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)