By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has urged Chinese and international companies to help position Africa as a production and sourcing base rather than merely a consumer market, as South Africa seeks to deepen trade and investment ties with China.
Mashatile made the appeal on Monday during an address at the Fourth China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, where he presented South Africa’s value proposition to supply-chain companies and investors.
The Deputy President is in China on a working visit from 20 to 26 June. The Presidency said the visit is aimed at strengthening political cooperation, industrial investment, trade facilitation and broader economic collaboration between South Africa and China.
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Mashatile told delegates that global supply chains were being reshaped by geopolitical shifts, technological change, climate pressures and new patterns of production.
He said South Africa wanted to expand the range and value of exports entering the Chinese market and shift the trade relationship towards more value-added manufactured goods.
“We invite Chinese and international partners to work with us in positioning Africa not merely as a consumer market,” Mashatile said.
He said South Africa offered investors a strong industrial base, a developed financial sector, logistics infrastructure, mineral resources and growing capabilities in services and digital trade.
Mashatile said the country was also well placed as a gateway to the African continent, with the African Continental Free Trade Area opening access to a market of more than 1.3 billion people.
He identified three priority areas for cooperation: agriculture and food systems; critical minerals and the green economy; and advanced manufacturing, logistics and automotive value chains.
Mashatile said an important part of South Africa’s engagement with China was the implementation of the Framework Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Prosperity, signed earlier this year by the countries’ trade ministers.
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He said this was supported by a zero-tariff preference scheme that came into effect on 1 May 2026, allowing qualifying South African exports to enter the Chinese market duty-free.
South Africa produces citrus, avocados, stone fruit, wine and macadamia nuts, while also holding significant reserves of platinum group metals, manganese and chromium needed for clean-energy technologies and modern manufacturing.
Mashatile is also expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng during the visit and engage several Chinese companies, including China Communications Construction Company, Geely Auto, Green Minerals and Metals, Beijing GeoEnviron Engineering, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, Chery and SANY Group.
Mashatile is due to travel to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, from 25 to 26 June for further business engagements linked to the outcomes of the 2024 Shenzhen Presidential Business Forum.
He is accompanied by Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Zuko Godlimpi and senior government officials.
