FOCAC: China grants duty-free access to 33 LDCs
To perpetuate its economic partnership with African countries, the Republic of China has ratified zero tariff on 100% of its imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with which it has diplomatic relations, effective since 1st December 2024.
The resolution was adopted at the opening ceremony of the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Beijing, China. Basically, 33 African countries, including Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic and Angola, will benefit from this exemption on exports to China. This powerful measure taken by the Chinese business empire is in line with the resolutions previously adopted at the 2nd FOCAC held in 2003 relating to zero tariff dismantling on 190 products for 30 least-developed countries. According to data published by China's Customs Administration, this brought about a 282-billion-dollar increase in bilateral trade by 2023.
Nevertheless, the desired effect is not always felt in the economies of the countries benefiting from this China-driven market opportunity, due to the decline in trade balance, since the goods shipped by China are essentially finished products (textiles-clothing, machinery, electronics, etc.), whereas its imports from the African continent are mainly raw materials such as crude oil and others.
To offset this trade deficit which greatly favours China, it would be important, or at least necessary, for the countries benefiting from this exemption to engage in the processing of manufactured products, so that the Chinese market becomes an outlet for the products derived from their industrialisation.