From 2018 to 2023, North China's Shanxi province's trade with Africa increased from 3.57 billion yuan ($503.47 million) to 9.19 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 10.7 percent. The total trade volume over six years reached 38.1 billion yuan.

In the first seven months of 2024, trade between Shanxi and Africa amounted to 5.9 billion yuan, marking a 22.4-percent year-on-year increase. Among Shanxi's enterprises engaging in foreign trade with Africa, one company has a scale exceeding 10 billion yuan, and nine companies exceed 1 billion yuan.

According to Zuo Yunwei, deputy director of the statistical analysis department at Taiyuan Customs, Shanxi's trade with Africa covers 49 out of 54 African countries. South Africa, Guinea, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Gabon are Shanxi's top five trading partners, accounting for 83.5 percent of the total trade value from 2018 to 2023.

In terms of exports, Shanxi mainly exports electromechanical products, steel, pharmaceutical materials, and drugs to Africa. From 2018 to 2023, Shanxi exported 3.69 billion yuan worth of electromechanical products such as mobile phones, electrical equipment, and general machinery. It also exported 1 billion yuan of steel and 570 million yuan of pharmaceutical materials and drugs.

Shanxi has primarily imported metal ores and copper from Africa over the past six years, with high-quality specialty agricultural and non-resource products showing significant growth.