South Africa asks China for better balanced trade

By Joe Cash

BEIJING (Reuters) -South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told China's Xi Jinping on Monday he wanted to narrow his country's trade deficit with Beijing, days before the Chinese leader is due to urge a summit of 50 African nations to buy more Chinese goods.

China, which has the world's second-biggest economy, is South Africa's largest trading partner globally but last year the value of its imports from China far outstripped exports.

Ramaphosa's remarks point to the challenge Xi may have in convincing African leaders gathering in Beijing to absorb more of the production powerhouse's wares, particularly after China did not meet a pledge from the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in 2021 to buy $300 billion of African goods.

With Western curbs on Chinese exports such as solar panels and electric vehicles looming, finding buyers for items that the U.S. and Europe maintain Beijing has overcapacity in is a top priority for Xi at this year's summit, which opens on Wednesday.

This ninth forum on China-Africa cooperation is also likely to address China's role as a major lender to Africa, where many countries are struggling under growing debt burdens.

China's lending to Africa rose for the first time in seven years in 2023.

"As South Africa, we would like to narrow the trade deficit and address the structure of our trade," Ramaphosa told his host during talks at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, a statement from his presidential office said.

"We urge for more sustainable manufacturing and job-creating investments," Ramaphosa added.

South Africa sold China around $12.5 billion worth of goods in 2023, figures from U.N. database Comtrade show, but imported just under $25 billion worth of Chinese products.

South Africa, which co-founded the BRICS group of developing economies along with Brazil, Russia, India, and China, is also seeking Beijing's backing to help it move on from over a decade of economic stagnation by building up its infrastructure.

Signalling Beijing's willingess to help Pretoria put an end to the persistent power cuts, poor port processing and sub-par railways that have throttled economic growth, Xi proposed elevating bilateral ties to the level of a "new era of all-round strategic partnership," Chinese state media reported.

The two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in fields such as agriculture, health, medical sciences and infrastructure development, as well as to "seize opportunities" in new areas such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy and new energy, a joint statement said.

Xi has expressed a desire to realign China's ties with the Global South around "small but beautiful projects".

Correspondingly, the world's biggest bilateral lender has already started tweaking conditions for its loans to the resource-rich continent, setting aside more for solar farms and hydroelectric dams, while cutting back on big-ticket infrastructure schemes.

($1 = 17.8704 rand)

(Additional reporting by Nellie Peyton in Johannesburg; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Andrew Heavens and Angus MacSwan)