JOHANNESBURG – African businesses are increasingly preferring to trade with Asian countries, especially China, at the expense of neighboring African countries due to higher costs, tariffs and diversity, according to Standard Bank's annual Africa Trade Barometer released on Thursday.
* Nearly 35% of African businesses now prefer to do business with Asian countries, up from 24% in the previous report.
*Respondents cited fast response times, product quality and a wide range of items.
* About 36% of the companies surveyed identified China as their top trading partner, ranking it first as a source of imports and second as an export destination.
* Additionally, 59% of importers said Asian countries are their main source of inputs, up from 48%.
* The proportion of those supporting intra-African trade fell from 37% to 32%, while the proportion of those supporting the EU fell by 2 percentage points to 14% and the proportion with no preference fell by 5 percentage points to 15%.
* Only 4% of businesses preferred North America as a region for business, citing high shipping costs, tariffs and currency fluctuations, but that was up from 3% in the previous survey.
* Despite global trade turmoil, 70% of importers surveyed expect trade volumes to increase within two years and 83% expect income to increase.
* The Barometer surveyed 2,218 businesses and conducted 30 in-depth interviews in 10 countries, including Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria.
*Small businesses made up 70% of the sample.