Geographic and Product Concentration in Africa’s Trade with China and India Table 2.5 shows the level of geographical and product concentration of African exports and imports with China and India based on the same Herfindahl-Hirschman Index used earlier. Clearly, exports to China and India are more concentrated, both in terms of origin markets in Africa and the range of products, than imports from the two countries. Also, for both geographic and product concentration, and for both exports and imports, Africa’s trade with India is less concentrated than its trade with China. For the geographic concentration, this difference is visible in figure 2.18. One TABLE 2.5 Geographical and Sectoral Concentration of Africa’s Trade with China and India: Herfindahl-Hirschman Index Exports to Imports from Exports to Imports from Indicator China China India India Geographical concentration of 0.17 0.09 0.05 African exporters/African importers ( ⫹0.09) ( ⫹0.05) ( ⫺0.03) ( ⫺0.03) Product concentration of 0.02 0.30 African exports/African imports ( ⫹0.25) ( ⫹0.01) ( ⫹0.15) ( ⫹0.02) Source: Authors calculation based on the data from UN COMTRADE. Note: Figures in parentheses are the difference in index figures from those based on Africa’s trade with the world. Figures are based on 2002–04 average trade values. 02-Chap2:02-Chap2 10/9/06 2:41 PM Page 84
PERFORMANCE AND PATTERNS OF AFRICAN - ASIAN TRADE AND INVESTMENT FLOWS 85 FIGURE 2.18 Leading African Trade Partners of China and India (as Percentage of Import Values in Importing Country) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Equatorial Guinea Gabon 90% 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 pe rce n