FTZ facilitates Changsha's foreign trade with Africa

The China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in central China's Hunan Province is the only pilot ground for a pioneering zone for in-depth China-Africa trade and economic cooperation, one of the nine programs for China-Africa cooperation.

Photo shows a street where African coffee is traded in the Gaoqiao Grand Market in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province. (Photo/Hunan Daily)

Since the inception of the Hunan pilot FTZ two years ago, economic and trade exchanges between Changsha, capital of the province and a major part of the pilot FTZ, and Africa have surged.

The trade volume between the Changsha area of the Hunan pilot FTZ and Africa reached 5.14 billion yuan (about $705.6 million) in the first eight months of 2022, up 298.8 percent year on year, according to the latest official data.

The China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation Promotion Innovation Demonstration Park in Changsha's Gaoqiao Grand Market, part of the Hunan pilot FTZ, serves as a platform to advertise African products in Hunan, promote the construction of the whole industrial chain of Africa's non-resource products and enhance the brand building for these products. Thirty-seven African countries have set up pavilions at the demonstration park.

"We have developed industrial chains for six kinds of African products, including coffee, cashew nuts, and pecans, and over 100 African brand products," said Xiao Xiangdong, director of the management committee of the Yuhua section of the Hunan pilot FTZ's Changsha area.

Changsha is aiming to see its foreign trade with Africa exceed 50 billion yuan by the end of 2026.