The Government of China has granted an opportunity for exporters in Ethiopia to export duty-free some 1,644 types of products to China.
The duty-free export privilege given to Ethiopia by the Chinese government doesn’t require Ethiopia to reciprocate or allow any Chinese products imported duty free to Ethiopia, according to Ethiopia’s Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration.
Most products listed to be exported duty free from Ethiopia are manufactured goods the country is not manufacturing at the moment.
These include parts and accessories of various machineries, electronics equipment, sunglasses, contact lenses, hand drying apparatus, cameras, projectors, electric smoothing irons, warships, vessels, sailboards, vacuum cleaner, soldering irons and guns, sound signaling equipment, etc.
In addition, deposits of cement, ceramics, or glass, metal deposit, rubber deposit, furniture of plastics, ballpoint pens, pencils and crayons, astronomical instruments, microscopes, telescopes, fishing tools, are also among the products.
China has been Ethiopia’s largest trading partner and biggest source of investment for many consecutive years.
In 2021, bilateral trade volume reached 2.66 billion U.S. dollars, of which, China imported commodities of nearly 370 million U.S. dollars from Ethiopia, a year-on-year increase of 8.1 percent.
Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa from China.
