African exports to China jump 23.5% in first two months of continent-wide zero-tariff regime. Two-way commerce reached a first-half record of 1.41 trillion yuan (US $208 billion), Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a briefing on 27 July, with capital and intermediate goods comprising 75 percent of Chinese shipments to the continent; dried chillies, coffee beans, cashews and wild aquatic products have since won unified regional market access, the narrow band of goods where duty-free entry was genuinely new.
