00:00in accra victoria agai makes skincare products from locally sourced
00:05share butter her brand kubune africa already sells across parts of africa the uk and the u.s
00:14now she and her team are setting their site on something bigger china the appeal the share size
00:22of the market the chinese markets because of the size of the population if even one percent of a
00:30city takes to your product you immediately become a millionaire so it's a market that we're very
00:36interested in in february this year beijing announced it will extend zero tariff treatment
00:42to all african countries with diplomatic relations with china effective may 1 2026 for ghana products
00:51like cocoa derivatives share butter cashews and light manufactured goods are expected to benefit
00:58but despite her optimism agba is cautious she worries that small businesses like hers could be left
01:06behind the only companies that will be able to take advantage of all these things are the companies
01:13that are prepared we've had agoa for 25 years how many ghanaian products have been able to
01:21enter the u.s markets it's about the industrial policy and having support for small business
01:31so yes it's great but will we be able to take advantage of it china africa trade has grown sharply
01:40reaching 364 billion dollars in 2025 according to chinese customs data yet some analysts question
01:49scrapping tariffs alone levels the playing field it's just a question of who is best placed to take
01:55advantage of that relationship we experience that in the economic partnership agreements
02:01the eu-caribbean arrangements you know in previous decades
02:07the companies that have the capacity to take advantage of a relationship like that are all on one side
02:16you know so china if china can come here and set up factories and export you know you you don't
02:25have the
02:26same capacity to export goods the arrangement runs until april 30 2028 that gives countries like ghana
02:33a narrow window to strengthen local industries before the opportunity expires there will be some exchange but
02:41that at the net effect you know also you have to think about how do you then build your local
02:47industries
02:48and so policy and sort of policy discipline is very very important otherwise you open yourself up to
02:56very very difficult uh situation at the end yes you get some parts of your economy you know active but
03:04whether or
03:05not the net effect it's a benefit or um and a negative i think it's a it's a reality for
03:13now businesses
03:14like that of agbay are looking to the government for support to scale up production quickly and position
03:19themselves before the door to the chinese market swings shut
03:26you
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