How China’s moves to balance African trade are being driven by a taste for avocado

The avocado has caught on among the Chinese middle-class, good news for Beijing’s aims to import US$300 billion in African farm produce by 2025

Tanzania has joined Kenya in exporting the super fruit to China, with South Africa also looking for market access

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Fresh avocados from Kenya wait to be transported to the Chinese market. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:00pm, 3 Dec 2022

After more than two decades of massive mining and infrastructure projects, Chinese diplomacy in Africa is being shaped by a new strategy – with the avocado at its centre.

Avocados are increasingly popular among China’s new health-conscious middle class, with trendy chefs now adding the “butter fruit” to many dishes.

That is good news for China, as it seeks to recalibrate African trade where it has long recorded a surplus while also diversifying from Latin America into other source markets for the super fruit.

Total trade with Africa hit a record US$254 billion in 2021, but most of it was in China’s favour – as it had been since 2012. China mostly imports natural resources such as crude oil, copper, cobalt and iron ore for its industries while Africa buys from China finished products such as machinery, electronics and textiles.

African leaders have for years urged Beijing to act on the deficit, especially as many countries need to pay off debts worth millions of dollars, a major part of it owed to China for its Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure loans.

Beijing has shown it is keen to address the imbalance, with President Xi Jinping last year promising to import US$300 billion of African agricultural produce by 2025.