Africa becomes biggest exporter of Chinese medicine

The China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicine & Health Products revealed statistics that showed the cost of medical products exported from China to Africa from January to September this year amounted to US$1.47bn, rising by 13.48 percent year on year.

"Africa now has a population of about 900mn, accounting for 12 per cent of the whole world, so it has large demand for medical products," Cao Gang, director of CCCMHPIE, said at the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou.

The rate of growth for exports to Africa was significantly higher than that for European and North American markets in the same time frame.

Chinese medical producers exporting medical products to Africa have played a great role in the African market in recent years, and China is changing the historical lack of medicine there, Cao said.

Buyers from Africa who attended the event said that both the quality of the medicine and its value for money were the main reasons they would import from China.