Women work at a denim fabric assembly line in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang Province on Wednesday. The company's denim fabric production hit a new high in the first four months of the year, with exports, primarily to Europe, the Americas and Africa, soaring 78 percent year-on-year. Photo: cnsphoto

The China-Africa trade volume was $139.1 billion from January to July this year, an increase of 40.5 percent, the highest level, Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Friday. 

In particular, the imports from Africa have increased by 46.3 percent, reaching $59.3 billion, and imports of agricultural products such as rubber, cotton, and coffee have doubled over the same period last year, vice minister Qian Keming said.

The remark came at a press release for the coming the second China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, which will be held from September 26 to 28 in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province.

The event, co-organized by the MOFCOM and Hunan's provincial government, is the only economic and trade cooperation platform under the mechanism of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

At this fair, more than 300 companies from more than 40 countries in Africa will participate, and goods such as red wine, coffee, cocoa and nuts will be showed.

In recent years, with the continuous improvement of the business environment in African countries, the willingness of Chinese companies to invest in Africa has continued to rise.

As of the end of 2020, China's direct investment in Africa exceeded $47.4 billion, covering more than 50 African countries. From the perspective of investment fields, the industry has expanded to construction, mining, and technology, MOFCOM said. 

Qian said in the past 20 years, China-Africa trade volume has increased by 20 times, leading the growth rate of Africa's major trading partners. China has been Africa's largest trading partner country for 12 consecutive years. The proportion of China-Africa trade in Africa's total foreign trade has increased year on year, and it has exceeded 21 percent in 2020.

In 2020, despite the impact of the epidemic, China's new direct investment in Africa remained at the level of $3 billion, "which fully reflects the confidence of Chinese companies in the African market and the vitality of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation," Qian said.