Kenya has successfully exported dried wild sea cucumber to China for the first time, as reported by Xinhua News Agency. The shipment, weighing 300 kilograms, arrived at Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Hunan Province and hit the Chinese market on Thursday, marking a major milestone following the approval of a protocol for Kenyan wild-caught aquatic products to enter China.
The introduction of Kenyan sea cucumber adds to China’s diverse range of imported sea cucumber products, which have primarily been sourced from North America and Northern Europe. The move highlights the ongoing diversification of China’s seafood import channels.
In the first eight months of 2024, agricultural product imports from African countries to Hunan Province reached 300 million yuan (approximately $42.79 million), representing a 31.9 percent increase year-on-year, according to data from local customs.
Experts see the new import as another example of complementarity in agricultural trade between China and African nations. “In this case, the East African nation’s seafood resources and processing capability can meet Chinese consumers’ vast appetite for sea cucumber, and the previous achievement on practical bilateral cooperation, such as the setting up of direct air links, has ensured the logistics of this trade,” said Song Wei, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
Chinese investments and technology transfers have also contributed to the development of local economies in Africa, enhancing the capacity for such exports, Song added.
Earlier in September, Hunan Province received a 900-kilogram shipment of frozen mutton from Madagascar, marking China’s first mutton import from Africa. China has become the second-largest export destination for African agricultural products. Between January and July 2024, China imported agricultural products worth 25.35 billion yuan, a 7.2 percent increase compared to the previous year.
At the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China signed agreements to import products like Zambian soybeans and Zimbabwean avocados, covering 22 agricultural items from 14 African countries. As of now, China has signed protocols for importing 22 different agricultural products from 14 African countries, as reported by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
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