Africa-China trade plunges 30 percent

Speaking to African journalists here this week, the Commercial Counsellor in the Western Asia and African Affairs department in China's Ministry of Commerce, Xie Yajing, said lower resource prices and declining demand from China had seen trade volumes flag to $37.07 billion in the first six months of 2009 from $48 billion in the first half of 2008.

"Since 2000, average annual growth of China-Africa trade has averaged 3.5 percent," Xie said. "However, since most imports from Africa consist of natural resources such as metals and oil whose prices have weakened significantly since mid-2008, trade figures lowered in the first half of the year."