How China’s oil import is shifting away from Africa
Over the past decades, China has transformed its economy into Africa’s largest bilateral trade partner with trade volumes reaching an all-time high of $282 billion in 2023.
The trade between China and its African partners ranges from the importation and exportation of raw materials, oil, and other unprocessed products. It has been reported that the bilateral trade between China and its African partners has created an imbalance, as China exports more than $173 billion and imports a little over $100 billion.
Thus, China is shifting its trade focus, particularly in oil from Africa to the Gulf countries.
China's crude oil imports from Africa are declining as the nation increasingly sources oil from more stable producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Russia, and other Asian nations. In 2023, the value of crude oil imports from Russia and several Asian producers surged compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, with dramatic increases noted in imports from the UAE (254 percent), Malaysia (408 percent), Kazakhstan (214 percent), and Kuwait (41 percent).
Meanwhile, China’s reliance on African oil is diminishing. With the exception of Chad, which saw a 78-percent increase in oil exports to China between 2019 and 2023, most major African oil producers have experienced significant declines in trade with China.
Angola, once the world’s second-largest oil exporter to China in 2010, dropped to eighth place by 2023. Other African nations, including South Sudan, Sudan, and Nigeria, have also seen their oil exports to China plummet by 77 percent, 67 percent, and 61 percent, respectively.
