Visitors browse Kenyan products at the 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province on June 15, 2025. Photo: VCG

Editor's Note:
High-end ingredients that were once largely imported are now made in China and gradually moving from China into global markets. Meanwhile, as trade and economic cooperation deepens, distinctive foods from around the world are entering China at an accelerating pace and winning growing favor among consumers. "Chinese flavors" are increasingly becoming an active presence on the global consumption stage, while China's dining table draws cuisines from across the world. This two-way flow across mountains and oceans is not merely a meeting of tastes between China and the world, but also a vivid illustration of how China's vast market is sharing development opportunities globally. This is the second installment of the series.


At dawn on the Indian Ocean, fishermen near Shimoni town in Kenya's Kwale County head out for the day's catch. Once hauled ashore, wild anchovies are swiftly sent to nearby processing sites for export to China, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In the eyes of local residents, anchovies — the small, silvery fish — are nutrient rich and widely consumed. After the morning's catch arrives, Kenyan workers clean, process, sun-dry and sort the fish, storing qualified batches in cold facilities before they are shipped to China, where they are processed into dried anchovy products, according to Xinhua.

Africa is bordered by seas and rich in inland waters, yet many countries still face shortages of skilled labor, funding, and modern fishing infrastructure as they develop their marine economies. China's strengths in marine fisheries, shipbuilding and port development therefore make China-Africa cooperation in the so-called blue economy a natural and timely fit, Xinhua reported.

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of aquatic products. In recent years, it has carried out fisheries cooperation with nearly 20 African countries, with related output reaching about 300,000 tons annually. According to data from the African Union, Africa's blue economy size is projected to grow to $405 billion by 2030, Xinhua reported.

From sourcing to skills

Mohamed Harun, a local worker engaged in fish processing, told the Global Times that his life has changed since he joined a fish-processing company in 2023. "We now have stable work five days a week, which has increased my income and allowed me to learn new skills," Harun said. 

Harun noted that through daily production work, he has learned not only how to process fish but also how to make mesh boards, improving both his cooking skills and basic carpentry skills. He said the project has already brought great changes to the village. 

According to Harun, the company has created jobs for young and middle-aged residents and helped build a landing site managed by the local beach management unit, which is also available for village use. 

"It has made our small village better known not only in Kenya but also in China, and we are proud of that," he said. Harun added that he hopes more skilled trainers will come to teach local fishermen, enabling more dried fish to be exported to China and allowing the cooperation to expand further.

The company Harun works for is a Kenyan aquatic products facility operated by a subsidiary of Jinzai Food Group, a snack producer based in Central China's Hunan Province.

In June 2023, the first shipment of wild anchovies from a Kenyan processing base linked to Jinzai Food Group arrived in Changsha, marking Kenya's first export of wild aquatic products to China. In April 2025, additional 50 tons of deep-sea anchovies arrived in Hunan and were displayed at the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

In China, the fish are processed into snack products tailored to local tastes and sold through supermarkets, e-commerce platforms and convenience stores. After deeper processing, the products are exported to more than 30 countries and regions, including Japan and France, forming a growing supply chain that runs from African fishing ports to Chinese tables and onward to global markets, Zhou Jinsong, chairman of Jinzai Food Group, told the Global Times.

The project goes beyond raw material import, said Zhou. It has involved joint fisheries research with Kenyan authorities, skills training for local fishermen, and the transition of rural workers into skilled industrial roles. By moving quality control upstream, the project has supported local technical capacity building. Since 2022, it has hired more than 100 local workers each year, he said.

Reaching Chinese tables 

Kenyan anchovies are no exception. From Ethiopian coffee and Rwandan chili to honey from Tanzania and nuts from Zambia and Mozambique, African agricultural products are finding more diverse pathways into the Chinese market. The journey of global flavors to Chinese dinner tables has become a clear and defining trend.

Policy deepens China-African agricultural partnerships. Starting at the end of 2024, China will grant zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent of tariff lines to all least developed countries with which it has diplomatic relations, becoming the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a measure, Xinhua reported.

Ethiopian coffee exports to China have surged at an annual rate of 27 percent, making China its fourth-largest global market. The booming demand is driving an industrial upgrade back home: from cultivation to quality assessment, the sector is becoming more standardized and professional. 

Local growers and exporters agree that tariff cuts have not only sharpened their price edge in China but also bolstered confidence to expand capacity and enhance quality, People's Daily reported in December 2025.

The influx of African produce stems from China's massive and expanding demand, Bian Yongzu, executive deputy editor-in-chief of Modernization of Management magazine, told the Global Times. Rising incomes and purchasing power have fueled a growing appetite for high-quality, diverse food, positioning the Chinese market as a stable and vast destination for global agricultural exports.

Bian noted that Chinese enterprises and their mature industrial models provide critical support. By introducing expertise in deep processing, cold-chain logistics, and fresh-produce transport, China has significantly bolstered local capacities for storage and large-scale exports, making long-distance trade viable. Meanwhile, favorable policies have streamlined procedures and slashed costs, creating a faster track for African goods.

China's total imports and exports with Africa hit 2.49 trillion yuan ($358.2 billion) in 2025, marking a year-on-year increase of 18.4 percent, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on January 14.

In the long run, Bian said that China is not only a major global consumer of agricultural products, but is also emerging as a pivotal hub for processing and value creation. Leveraging its robust industrial chains and technological edge, China can perform deep processing on imported agri-products and re-export higher value-added goods to the global market. This model not only satisfies domestic consumption upgrades, but also provides a sustainable and replicable development path for the whole world.