Ethiopia sees massive increase in exports to China

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia’s exports to China have grown dramatically over the last year, said and Ethiopian customs official on Thursday.

Ethiopia’s exports increased on the back of China allowing several African countries to export a range of commodities duty free under a development programme.

However, Ethiopia’s exports of $123mn from July last year to March this year was not enough to offset Ethiopia’s massive machinery imports from China. Ethiopia imported $283mn from China during 2004 alone.

China has drastically increased its influence in Africa over the past few years by helping countries fast-track infrastructure and market development. It is likely that the building of roads across Ethiopia by Chinese engineers is aimed at increasing the ease with which it can access the country’s vast resources as China has already indicated that it wants access to Ethiopia’s gas fields.

China has already looked to Africa for its energy requirements, with Angola becoming the top supplier of oil to the Asian country in March this year.

China's imported products from Africa were worth $22.8bn in 2005.