ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia’s coffee export to China saw a 196 percent growth in volume, a Chinese official says.

The amount puts Beijing as top ten buyers of Ethiopian Coffee trade along with Germany, the U.S., Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, South Korea, Italy, and France.

Between Jan and November 2021 alone, “China’s import of Ethiopian Coffee increased by 196%,” said Wu Peng, director-general of African Affairs Department at Chinese foreign ministry.

China will import more African agricultural products in the coming years, he said while announcing the outcome of a live-streaming event that saw 11,000 bags of Ethiopian Coffee sold “in 5 seconds”’.

Peng said this almost two months after China announced its plan to expand African imports to reach 300 billion US dollars in the next three years.

Trade volume between China and Africa rose a record $254.3 billion in 2021, growing by 35.3% year-on-year.

During the same period, China’s imports rose 43.7%, 13.8% higher than exports, which rose 29.9%, according to its Customs officials.