An African factory employing about 700 workers, mostly women, halted production for three months after Russia’s war in Ukraine disrupted a supply chain that routed Zambian and Congolese copper through Europe for processing before it returned to Africa as finished vehicle wiring harnesses.
The shutdown illustrates a problem regional trade officials say costs the continent manufacturing jobs, supplier contracts and revenue: raw materials leave Africa for processing elsewhere, then come back as costlier imports. Cynthia Gnassingbe-Essonam, director of private sector engagement and communications at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, cited the case during a working session with Somali businesses in Mogadishu on Aug. 18.
AfCFTA, which brings together most African Union member states under a single trading bloc, is meant to reduce exactly that kind of exposure by encouraging companies to process and manufacture goods within the continent rather than ship raw commodities abroad. Officials at the Mogadishu session discussed goods, services, investment, intellectual property and digital trade with the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Somali Manufacturers Association and private businesses.
A similar gap shows up in food markets. Gnassingbe-Essonam pointed to Accra, where imported beef from New Zealand, Australia and France sells at premium prices even though Botswana has an established beef export industry and Somalia produces camel meat. “The demand exists. The supply is simply not organised across the continent,” she said.
Somalia is now working to convert its AfCFTA membership into an actual shipment. The country already holds tariff concessions on 90% of traded goods through the East African Community, and the AfCFTA Secretariat is working with Somali authorities to complete the country’s first consignment under the agreement.
For livestock exporters, officials said competitiveness starts with meeting sanitary and abattoir standards before businesses can pursue additional revenue from hides and other by-products, including materials used in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Proximity to ports also matters commercially: producers based near shipping routes can cut transport costs well below those faced by competitors exporting from Europe, giving African suppliers a potential edge on price as well as location.
Bank representatives at the session asked what the trade framework means for their role in financing cross-border commerce, reflecting a broader question facing the agreement: moving from tariff schedules and working sessions to financed, executed trade.
Whether that shift happens will determine if copper, livestock, grain and other African commodities move through more processing stages on the continent, or continue leaving as raw material and returning as import.
