A leading Chinese industry association has warned the country risks becoming too dependent on raw materials from individual nations in Africa, as the continent becomes a battleground in an intensifying global tussle for resources.
China’s vast manufacturing sector is heavily reliant on African countries to supply several crucial materials, with Guinea emerging as a dominant supplier of bauxite – an aluminium ore that is essential to make everything from cars to electronics.
Ge Honglin, head of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said this dependence could become a strategic vulnerability during a visit to the West African nation on Saturday, as he called for greater efforts to secure the bauxite supply chain.
“Internationally, greater attention must be paid to the risks of overconcentration in certain countries, ensuring safer development and acquisition of overseas resources,” Ge said, according to an article posted on the association’s website.
China’s imports of bauxite soared to 141.6 million tonnes in 2023, with the country relying on imports for 86.1 per cent of its supplies of the ore, according to a research note published by Dongxing Securities last year.
And Guinea provided most those imports. China’s bauxite imports from the West African country skyrocketed from 11.94 million tonnes in 2016 to 99.26 million tonnes in 2023, as Chinese industrial firms invested heavily in the nation.
Indonesia’s bauxite export ban, which came into force two years ago, has made China even more reliant on Guinea’s mines.
