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China should look to Africa to counter overcapacity claims from the West, Africa Finance Corporation chief says

  • Samaila Zubairu, head of the development bank, says China should not see the continent as just a source of raw materials
  • He says diversifying the supply chain could help to tackle concerns over manufacturing overcapacity and carbon emissions

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Samaila Zubairu, chief executive of the Africa Finance Corporation, says Africa is “open and ready to do business with anybody that wants to do business”. Photo: Bloomberg
Zhao Ziwenin Doha, QatarandKandy Wongin Doha, Qatar
China should look to Africa to diversify its supply chains and counter overcapacity claims from the West, according to the head of the Africa Finance Corporation.
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AFC chief executive Samaila Zubairu said China, a world leader in renewable energy, should consider moving part of the industry’s supply chain to Africa, rather than seeing the continent as just the source of raw materials.

“Most of the [new energy] supply chain is in China. What we want China to do … is to look at Africa as a way of diversifying the supply chain because Africa has minerals and metals to support this,” Zubairu said during an interview in Doha.

“Africa also has renewable energy sources, so the processing of these materials should have been in Africa.”

The remarks come as China is facing accusations that its overcapacity has damaged manufacturing sectors in the West, particularly in new energy.
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Zubairu said a bigger shift towards Africa could help to tackle concerns, particularly from Europe, about China’s manufacturing overcapacity and carbon emissions.

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