China's African tariff removals, trade surge spur yuan adoption

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/66369231

Surging Chinese trade with Africa and lifting of tariffs for most countries on the continent look set to boost yuan use, aiding ​Beijing’s bid to build alternatives to Western finance.

International Monetary Fund research has found that yuan usage rises with trade exposure to China

Kenya last year converted three Chinese railway construction loans from dollars into yuan, cutting about $215 million a year in interest ​costs, while Zambia said in late 2025 it would begin accepting mining royalties and taxes from Chinese firms in yuan to boost its ​reserves and help service debt ⁠to China.

China’s yuan-denominated imports and exports jumped 14% in April to 4.38 trillion yuan ($647 billion) year-on-year, Chinese government officials said, without giving a figure for Africa.

That trend is visible in Kenya, where avocado exports to the vast Chinese market have surged from 10 to 20 containers a week in 2022 to around 200, with volumes projected to reach 1,000 by 2030, matching shipments to long-standing top market ⁠Europe.

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