On October 29, more than 150 kinds of delicately packed African commodities were eye-catching at the Imported African Agricultural Products Pavilion of the 23rd Central China (Hunan) Agricultural Expo being held in Changsha, Hunan.

These products with distinctive African styles are African brands specially incubated by the Hunan "African Brand Warehouse" project. Hunan is the permanent host of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) and a pioneering zone for in-depth China-Africa trade and economic cooperation. It has set up a CAETE exhibition hall and the China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion and Innovation Demonstration Park at the Changsha Gaoqiao Grand Market, a 100-billion-yuan-level commercial and trade industrial cluster. This aimed to incubate brands, customize packaging, and promote high-quality processing of African products before entering the Chinese market.

Hunan now has formed six import chains of African products such as coffee, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, cocoa, chili, and sesame seeds; opened up the whole industrial chain of direct procurement, warehousing, logistics, processing, design and packaging, exhibition and sales, and after-sales service; and, fostered over 100 kinds of products for sale. The import volume of African specialty coffee has reached 1,000 tons. According to the procurement agreement, Gaoqiao Grand Market's annual procurement volume of Ugandan dried chili peppers reached 5,000 tons. With the building of an African non-resource product distribution and trading center as the core, Hunan is accelerating the construction of a complete industrial chain of high-quality African products for the domestic market.

The China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion and Innovation Demonstration Park has introduced more than 100 leading China-Africa economic and trade enterprises and business associations engaged in trading, supply chain, and whole-process service. The park has also established a livestreaming incubation center for China-Africa e-commerce. It sells goods via e-commerce platforms and livestreaming, continuously recommends African commodities, showcases African customs, and expands marketing channels. In the first three quarters of 2022, Hunan's trade volume with Africa increased by 47%, exceeding last year's annual amount of 40.39 billion yuan.

The Hunan "African Brand Warehouse" project is also arranging ten industrial chains of African non-resource products, including soybeans, peanuts, olive oil, and spices. It has accelerated processing plant construction at original sites in Africa, to enhance Africa's supply capacity and help more high-quality African products enter the Chinese market.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: chinanews