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African traders welcome end of China’s Covid travel curbs
- Thousands of businesspeople from the continent have been unable to meet suppliers over the past 3 years
- Some traders say they have been able to source goods online, but others believe they will benefit from face-to-face contact
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African traders have welcomed China’s decision to lift the entry and exit restrictions that have prevented many from travelling to the country to do business for the past three years.
Samuel Karanja, the chief executive of the Importers and Small Traders Association of Kenya, was one of the thousands of African traders who used to travel to the southern city of Guangzhou, which is home to a sizeable African community, to buy and source a wide variety of goods ranging from textiles and machinery to electronics and beauty products.
But the strict Covid controls, including flight bans, quarantine and regular testing, made travel too difficult and expensive, if not impossible, for most of these traders, forcing Karanja and others to come up with other ways of sourcing products.
“We had our agents there … who have been loading our cargo,” he said.
He welcomed China’s decision last week to reopen the economy and start issuing visas again, saying it has not been smooth for most traders, especially those who had no established trade links with Chinese suppliers and agents.
“Those who did not have credible agents have suffered in the past three years in the hands of rogue suppliers. I know of some traders who have lost money,” he said.
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