China remains Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years: official

China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching a record 295.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, as announced by an official from the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Assistant Minister of Commerce Tang Wenhong highlighted that the scale of China-Africa economic cooperation has expanded steadily, showing strong growth momentum.

"In 2024, the trade volume between China and Africa amounted to 295.6 billion U.S. dollars, rising 4.8 percent year on year and setting a new record for the fourth consecutive year. China has remained Africa's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. Specifically, China's imports from Africa reached 116.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.9 percent, while its exports to Africa stood at 178.8 billion U.S. dollars, increasing 3.5 percent. China's vast market has provided extensive opportunities for African goods," he said.

Tang noted that Chinese enterprises in recent years have significantly enhanced their development and investment activities in various economic and trade zones across Africa. That has facilitated industrial chain collaboration between China and Africa, while also making substantial contributions to local tax revenues, employment opportunities, and export earnings.

"For digital economy, Chinese enterprises have built several large-scale data centers for Africa, providing cloud computing services. 5G technology has also been widely applied in African mining and urban management. In terms of green development, the cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power stations built through China-Africa cooperation has exceeded 1.5 gigawatts, which can meet the electricity demands of over a million African households. In financial cooperation, Egypt and the African Export-Import Bank successfully issued Chinese yuan-denominated panda bonds in China in 2023 and 2025 respectively," he continued.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 107.58 points, or 0.2 percent, to 53,732.41. The Standard and Poor's 500 sank 13.23 points, or 0.17 percent, to 7,785.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 73.86 points, or 0.28 percent, to 26,729.16.

Six of the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors ended in the green, with energy and utilities leading the gainers by going up 1.36 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, health and technology led the laggards by losing 0.6 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively.