Business Outlook
The growing demand for goods in Africa is clearly reflected in statistics. Shipping lines servicing the Dubai-Africa route are experiencing a welcome rise in business with the coming of African bulk buyers during the past two to three years.
Among the major destinations of UAE exports, are Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, Gabon,
Ghana and the Ivory Coast in West Africa, and Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya in East Africa
China one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has already started making inroads into the African markets and established a special China-Africa Business Council recently. Trade between China and Africa registered an unprecedented growth of nine folds between 1999 and 2003 and stood at approximately $18 billion.
China has announced the names of 24 African Countries that enjoy zero tariff treatment and special preferential tariff rate for exports of some 190 products to China, ranging from food, mineral product and textile, to machinery and electronics
India has been actively promoting trade with Africa in recent years. Target countries identified during the first phase of the “Focus: Africa” program include Mauritius, Kenya and Ethiopia.
In an effort to boost trade ties with Africa, India is planning to provide duty-free access to products from the least developed countries of Africa. As a further measure to boost bi-lateral trade with African countries India also hosted its first summit with the African Union in April 2008 to put its traditional ties with the continent on a fast track.
India’s trade with African countries has doubled from $5493 million in 2001-2002 to $11822 million in 2005-2006. Bilateral trade has further shot up to $ 18538 million during April 2006 - January 2007. Africa is the largest recipient of India’s technical and economic cooperation program with an outlay of over a billion dollars.
Africa is indeed a very lucrative market. Those dealing in products manufactured in the Far East (China, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia) India and Pakistan will find a ready market for their products as Africa is by and large a very price-sensitive market
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