The China International Import Expo (CIIE) is helping small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa reach the Chinese market, with Ethiopian coffee brands emerging as a telling example.
Supported by China's zero-tariff policy for African products, the annual expo in Shanghai is connecting African producers with the world's second-largest consumer market, turning once-hard-to-imagine opportunities into real export growth.
Since its inception in 2018, the CIIE has grown into a key platform for foreign businesses seeking entry into China. For African SMEs in particular, the expo has become a practical gateway, with the eighth edition last year introducing a dedicated zone for products from least-developed countries and expanding its African products area to help businesses from across the continent gain a foothold in the Chinese market.
In Addis Ababa, workers at Awo Coffee, a fast-growing Ethiopian specialty coffee enterprise, recently roasted and packaged a batch of freshly picked beans at a temporary processing facility. Almost all the products are bound for one destination: China.
"At Awo Coffee, we often do medium and medium plus roast. This helps us keep the natural taste of the coffee. Roasting depends on the customer's needs and our customers mostly prefer medium and medium plus roast," said Berhanu Yimarew, a coffee roaster at the company.
Tesfaye Gebru, founder and CEO of Awo Coffee, said his company currently exports about 90 percent of its roasted products to China, attributing the significant export surge to the eighth CIIE in 2025, where the company made its debut.
"It is a big expo where many buyers and coffee exporters from across the world meet. From our participation last year, we got a huge market for our coffee products. It also helped us promote our brand to Chinese coffee buyers. Since the Expo last year our export volume to China has increased at least by 30 to 40 percent," he said.
For Awo Coffee, the expo's value extends beyond a single transaction, as the connections made there with Chinese importers have since translated into sustained demand, prompting the company to move beyond exporting green beans toward higher-value roasted and packaged products.
"We have now the experience from last year, and our brand is also well known, thus we will be back to the Expo this year with more coffee specialties like Yirgachefe, Guji, Kaffa, Sidama and Nekemte. The Expo is a major platform for companies like us to easily sell their products and enter the vast Chinese market" Gebru said.
The ninth edition of the CIIE opened in Shanghai on Thursday, bringing together over 4,100 overseas exhibitors from 148 countries and regions.
China's import expo helps African small businesses reach Chinese market
