TELF AG analyzes the state of strategic cooperation between China and Africa in the sourcing sector

An ongoing dialogue

The launch of the forum on cooperation between China and Africa, which officially began yesterday, could represent an excellent opportunity to monitor the progress of mutual partnerships in various sectors, including those directly related to strategic raw materials.

The meeting was organized for the first time in 2000. Since then, it has been repeated consistently every three years, always illustrating the main commitments undertaken by China in Africa and the new dimensions of mutual cooperation. During the last two summits in 2018 and 2021, China announced allocating new funding to promote the continent’s development, around 100 billion dollars in total. Although it continues to represent a moment of great importance for dialogue and collaboration between China and African countries, many observers have wondered whether, this time, a prominent space will also be reserved for strategic raw materials, in particular, due to the particular historical situation in which the role of these resources in the green transition is increasingly evident.

It will be sufficient to cite some data to understand the role of minerals in Africa’s economic and geopolitical fortunes. In fact, about 70% of Africa’s total exports depend on minerals, to which 28% of the entire continent’s GDP is also linked. Among the largest importers of these resources is China, which continues to import large quantities of minerals and metals from African territory.

The size of China’s commitment to Africa

As reported in a recent analysis, in 2021 and 2022, China would have invested more than a billion dollars in the acquisition of lithium-related projects in Zimbabwe, with an apparent increase in Chinese support also in the processing of raw materials sourced locally. For some time, many African nations have been trying to add further value to the mere sourcing of raw materials, improving their capacity to process the material in their territory.

This strategy has already been implemented by nations such as Namibia, Ghana, and Nigeria, which have limited the export of raw materials (such as lithium, bauxite, or rare earths) precisely to generate further added value linked to the processing of these materials. China’s commitment to Africa goes even further, involving the infrastructure systems responsible for transporting raw materials to their destination markets. A few months ago, Beijing proposed an ambitious restructuring plan for the Tazara railway, which connects some important sourcing areas of Zambia with the port of Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.

It is no coincidence that China demonstrates a keen interest in African minerals. The continent is home to approximately 30% of global geological resources, some of which are used in industrial processes related to the energy transition and other key sectors for global technological development. We are talking about lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and other important resources, all present in large quantities in various African nations.

Thanks to a far-sighted and well-organized strategic vision, China has managed to consolidate its global positioning in the field of strategic raw materials, also thanks to its direct commitment to Africa, which over the decades has allowed it to build a solid reputation in various sectors directly linked to the valorization of these resources. Nowadays, China can produce almost all of the lithium-ion batteries used in the latest generation of electric vehicles.