African companies return with goodies from Expo

Africa's small and medium agro-processing firms were the biggest winners of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai that saw them sign lucrative deals worth millions of dollars.

The companies said that the deals with Chinese businesses will stabilize price volatility experienced in their markets and boost productivity while enhancing efficiency in a bid to meet high standards set by the Chinese market.

In Rwanda, Gashora Farm secured a half-year contract to supply chili oil to Kaijiang Tasty Food Factory in Dazhou city, southwest China's Sichuan province. The deal, worth $2 million, starts this month and runs to the end of May 2019.

The managing director of the farm, Dieudonné Twahirwa, said the deal will offer a real solution to price volatility of the product in the international market.

"It means we are going to give supply contracts to farmers on fixed price and amount. Farmers can use these contracts to secure loans from the bank because there will be a reliable buyer of their produce," he said. The farm works with about 1,500 farmers growing crops on about 200 hectares of land in eastern Rwanda.

Irene Mumo, managing director of Trueways Enterprise Ltd, in Kenya said that enterprises will have to inject investments toward innovation and value addition. The honey manufacturer said the region has to undertake an aggregation exercise to audit the sector and formulate a strategy to grow local value and add capacity.

"With the signing of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures agreement between China and Kenya, local producers, therefore, have to enhance their efficiency," she said.

There is low awareness of Kenyan products in China, she said.

"Chinese dealers know of multifloral honey products from the Scandinavian countries and were truly surprised that Kenya produces varieties that have a different taste, feel and look. Demand for organic and unique agro-processed products in China is high," she said, adding that understanding the market would increase Africa's ability to widen its market share in the Asian market.

There were at least nine Kenyan entrepreneurs that participated in the event. They took part in business-to-business meetings with distributers who had reached across China, e-commerce platforms and consumers who were interested in buying African products such as tea and coffee.

Steve Malonza, director of Primax Agencies Ltd regional dealers specializing in production and export of pulses and oil grains based in Kenya, said the Shanghai expo opened the Chinese market to regional agricultural products. He said that discussions with Chinese firms will see his company ship grains --including soya beans, macadamia nuts and sesame seeds -- to China starting in December.

"Nevertheless, there is need for a sound and sustained strategy to enhance regional production to serve this emerging market. We also need financial products that would boost our capacity," he said.

Li Xuhang, charge d'Affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, said Chinese investors are keen on investing in the sector.

In a press briefing, Li said besides expanding exports to China, the event provided an excellent platform for foreign direct investment (FDI) into Kenya.

"Guangdong Silk-Tex Group of China, has announced its plans to set up a silk processing plant and a silk farm in Kenya that are expected to create more than 300,000 jobs for Kenyans. Right after the Expo, three Chinese delegations are visiting the country to scout for investment opportunities.

``They are organized, respectively, by the Council of Promoting South-South Cooperation, Provincial Governments of Anhui and Zhejiang, and there will be altogether 200 entrepreneurs coming along. I am fully confident that China-Kenya economic and trade cooperation will be elevated to a much higher level which will ensure a greater sense of fulfillment for people of all walks," he said.

Rajneesh Bhuee, an economic consultant based in Kenya, said the CIIE presented an ideal platform to speed up trade cooperation between China and African counties. ``The expo has strengthened private-to-private partnership linkages,'' she said.

"This is an off-shoot from the government-to-government cooperation that has dominated the landscape in the last decade," she said, adding that the CIIE will be a game changer in the continent that is working toward increasing its participation in global trade, especially in finished products.

Around $57.83 billion worth of deals were agreed for the year ahead at the CIIE. According to Li, China's import of goods is expected to exceed US$30 trillion in the next 15 years.

Contact the writer at Lucymorangi@chinadaily.com.cn