Coronavirus: how Africa’s traders are making a long-distance relationship work with China
- Businesspeople on the continent are pivoting as pandemic restrictions mean it is much more difficult to travel to Chinese manufacturing hubs
- Some importers are basing representatives offshore and looking online to keep supply lines open
Several times a year, Karanja, a trader and head of the Importers and Small Traders Association of Kenya, would take a direct flight from the Kenyan capital to southern China to source the wide variety of goods, from machinery to electronics and beauty products, available in the manufacturing hub.
But not any more.
Before boarding a plane, people wanting to travel from Africa to China now have to show at least two negative tests for the coronavirus from different laboratories 48 hours before departure. Then there are the quarantine requirements once they reach their destination.
Traders and importers like Karanja say the tough new pandemic restrictions are making it difficult and expensive for them to ply the regular trade route.
To stay afloat, many African traders are changing the way they do business, looking to technology as well as their established networks to get by.
