East Africa × China · Direct Trade Exchange

The Earth
gives first.
Industry
answers.

Africa sits on a geological fortune — gold, minerals, gemstones, pristine ocean fish, and fruits the world cannot match. China has the factories to transform raw earth into prosperity. Afrobia closes the loop. Direct. No middlemen. No transit countries. No markup.

⛏ Gold
💎 Gems
🪨 Minerals
🐟 Fish
🍋 Fruits
↩ Machinery
🌍
Resources →
← Machinery

Direct to
Chinese Industry

Verified Chinese manufacturers, processing plants and industrial buyers receive East African commodities with zero transit country friction — and send technology straight back.

The Exchange

Two continents.
One direct line.

Afrobia operates the only verified, bilateral, direct-trade corridor between East African natural resource producers and Chinese industrial buyers — with the return flow of machinery and manufacturing technology replacing the need for any third-party import chain.

🌍 East Africa Exports → China
⛏️
Gold & Precious Metals
Raw and semi-refined gold from East African artisanal and small-scale mines. Direct certification and shipping to Chinese refineries and jewellery manufacturers.
$2.8B EA annual gold export
💎
Gemstones
Tanzanite, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and tourmaline — East Africa produces 90% of the world's tanzanite and some of its finest rubies. Direct to Chinese gem cutters.
$400M annual gemstone trade
🪨
Industrial Minerals
Graphite, coltan, cobalt, lithium, gypsum, fluorite, and rare earths. Critical inputs for Chinese battery and electronics manufacturing supply chains.
$1.6B mineral export value
🐟
Ocean Fish & Seafood
Red Sea tuna, Somali lobster, Indian Ocean prawns, dried shark fin and squid. The Horn of Africa coastline spans 3,300 km of rich fishing waters — largely unmonetised.
$650M untapped seafood potential
🍋
Exotic Fruits & Botanicals
Somali frankincense, Ethiopian coffee, Kenyan mango and avocado, Somali dried lemon and tamarind — premium botanical commodities in high Chinese demand.
$320M agri-commodity value
🇨🇳 China Exports → East Africa
⚙️
Mining Machinery
Crushing plants, ball mills, flotation machines, conveyors, drilling rigs and mineral processing equipment from Shandong and Henan factory districts.
$890M machinery import demand
🏭
Food Processing Plants
Fish processing lines, fruit drying and cold-storage facilities, canning equipment, packaging machinery — enabling East Africa to add value before export.
$440M food tech import demand
☀️
Solar & Power Infrastructure
Off-grid solar systems, hybrid inverters, battery storage and micro-grid technology for powering mines, processing facilities and fishing villages.
$720M energy import demand
🚢
Fishing Vessels & Cold Chain
Deep-sea fishing trawlers, refrigerated containers, ice-making plants and harbour equipment for building East Africa's commercial fishing industry from scratch.
$280M maritime tech demand
🔬
Manufacturing Technology
CNC machines, welding equipment, plastic injection moulding, textile machinery and assembly line systems to build East African domestic manufacturing capability.
$550M manufacturing tech demand
How the corridor works

Earth leaves Africa.
Industry returns.

The most underutilised bilateral trade relationship in the world. Afrobia makes it frictionless.

🌍 East Africa — Supplier

The world's most resource-rich coast

Gold and precious metals — certified, traceable
Tanzanite, rubies, emeralds — rough & cut
Graphite, cobalt, coltan, lithium ore
Indian Ocean fish, dried seafood, lobster
Frankincense, coffee, tropical fruits
4,000 km of pristine coastline, largely unworked
Resources
DIRECT
CORRIDOR
NO 3RD
COUNTRY
Machinery
🇨🇳 China — Industrial Partner

The factory floor of the world

Gold refineries and jewellery manufacturing
Gem cutting, polishing and trading hubs
Battery, EV and electronics manufacturers
Seafood processing and cold-chain logistics
Mining and agricultural machinery producers
$500B annual raw material import demand
The Opportunity

Numbers that
demand attention.

🌍
$500B
China raw material imports / year

China is the world's largest buyer of raw materials and commodities. East Africa is one of its least-penetrated source regions — creating a structural arbitrage opportunity.

⛏️
$2.8B
EA gold exports — annual

Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Somalia collectively export billions in gold annually — much of it smuggled or sold below market value through informal intermediary chains.

💎
90%
Global tanzanite supply from Tanzania

Tanzania produces virtually all the world's tanzanite — yet Chinese buyers have historically accessed it through European and Indian middlemen who absorb most of the margin.

🐟
3,300km
Somali coastline — largely unclaimed

The Somali coast is among the world's most biologically rich — yet almost entirely unmonetised. Chinese demand for dried and fresh seafood is insatiable and growing.

📈
+18%
China-Africa trade growth CAGR

China–Africa bilateral trade has grown at 18% per year for the past decade — the fastest-growing major bilateral trade corridor in the world. Afrobia owns the direct infrastructure.

🏭
Zero
Direct-trade platforms in this corridor

There is currently no digital platform that manages verified, bilateral, direct commodity and machinery trade between East Africa and China without routing through a third country. Afrobia is first.

Our Principle

Why direct
is the
only
way.

Every transit country, every re-processing hub, every broker adds cost and extracts value that belongs to the African producer and the Chinese buyer. Afrobia removes all of them.

01

The Resource Premium Stays in Africa

When gold leaves Somalia through a Dubai intermediary, the value-added margin stays in Dubai. Direct trade with China means the premium — certification, quality grading, exclusivity — stays with the East African producer and their community.

02

Chinese Buyers Pay Market Price, Not Markup

A tanzanite stone that leaves Arusha at $400 per carat reaches a Hong Kong dealer at $900 after passing through Antwerp. Direct to a Shenzhen gem house — the margin is shared between African miner and Chinese manufacturer, not extracted in transit.

03

Technology Returns Without Markup

A Chinese mining crusher costs $40,000 at the factory gate. Through three import agents it arrives in East Africa at $68,000. Afrobia ships it direct — factory to mine site — for $40,000 plus freight. The savings capitalise the operation.

04

Traceability Adds Value

Conflict-free certification, geological provenance, and supply-chain traceability are increasingly demanded by Chinese industrial buyers. Afrobia's verified sourcing network provides this — unlocking premium pricing that informal trade cannot access.

05

One Platform. Both Directions.

The circular trade logic is Afrobia's structural moat. We earn on the resource export and on the machinery import. The same relationship — African producer, Chinese manufacturer — generates two revenue events per trade cycle.

How It Works

Five steps. Two continents. Zero friction.

⛏️
Source
East African producer registers. Commodity is verified, certified and graded by Afrobia's on-ground network.
📋
Match
Platform matches producer with verified Chinese industrial buyer. Terms agreed directly — no broker in the room.
🚢
Ship
Commodity departs East African port direct to Chinese receiving port. Afrobia handles all logistics and customs documentation.
💳
Pay
Payment in USDT, Bank Wire, LC or EVC/M-Pesa. Escrowed and released on delivery confirmation. Zero FX markup.
🏭
Return
Chinese machinery, technology or payment flows directly back. The cycle repeats. The relationship compounds.
What We Move

Five commodity
categories.

⛏️
Precious Metals
Gold, silver, platinum group metals. Artisanal and LSM production. Certified conflict-free. Direct to Chinese refineries and jewellery makers.
💎
Gemstones
Tanzanite, ruby, sapphire, emerald, tourmaline, garnet. Rough and semi-cut. Provenance-certified. Direct to Shenzhen and Guangzhou gem districts.
🪨
Critical Minerals
Graphite, coltan, cobalt, lithium, copper ore, gypsum, fluorite. Battery supply chain materials in critical Chinese demand.
🐟
Ocean Produce
Tuna, lobster, prawn, dried shark fin, squid, sea cucumber. Indian Ocean and Red Sea. Fresh-frozen and dried. Direct to Chinese seafood processors.
🍋
Exotic Botanicals
Ethiopian coffee, Somali frankincense, dried lemon, tamarind, mango, avocado, moringa. Premium agri-commodities with rising Chinese consumer demand.
China → East Africa

Machinery &
technology
flows back.

⛏️
Mining Equipment
Crushers, ball mills, flotation cells, conveyors, drilling rigs, mineral processing plants — factory-direct from Shandong province.
Industrial
🏭
Food Processing Lines
Fish gutting, filleting and freezing lines. Fruit drying chambers, juice extraction, canning and packaging — enabling value-add before export.
Agri-Processing
🚢
Fishing Vessels
Steel-hulled trawlers, refrigerated containers, ice plants, harbour cranes. China's shipyards produce the world's most cost-effective commercial fishing fleet.
Maritime
☀️
Energy Infrastructure
Off-grid solar microgrids, hybrid inverters, battery storage — powering mines, processing facilities and fishing villages across the coast.
Energy
🔬
Manufacturing Tech
CNC machining centres, welding systems, injection moulding, textile machinery — building domestic industrial capability in East Africa.
Industrial
📡
Gem Lab Equipment
Sorting machines, cutting wheels, spectroscopy instruments and grading tools — so Africa can cut and certify its own stones before export.
Gem Processing
❄️
Cold Chain Logistics
Industrial refrigeration, cold rooms, reefer containers and ice-making plants — the infrastructure that unlocks perishable commodity export at scale.
Logistics
🏗️
Construction & Civil
Cranes, excavators, concrete batching plants, steel structures — supporting the infrastructure growth that makes commodity extraction viable.
Infrastructure
Revenue Model

We earn on
both directions.

4–6%
Commodity Brokerage
Commission on every commodity export facilitated — gold, gems, minerals, fish, fruits. Charged to the East African supplier as a platform fee on verified transaction value.
Avg. commodity parcel$85,000
Commission rate4–6%
Revenue per parcel$3,400–5,100
8–12%
Machinery Import Margin
Platform margin on all machinery and technology imported from China. We source at factory price and pass on sub-wholesale cost to East African buyers — keeping the arbitrage.
Avg. machinery order$42,000
Platform margin8–12%
Revenue per order$3,360–5,040
2.5%
Trade Finance
Letter of Credit facilitation, invoice financing and commodity-backed working capital for producers who need pre-shipment finance. High-margin, asset-light fintech layer.
Minimum LC value$10,000
Facilitation fee2.5%
Working capital rateMarket+1.5%
0
Blended platform margin
Revenue per trade cycle
0
Transit country intermediaries
0
Direct EA–China trade platform
Investor Relations

The earth is ready.
Are you?

Afrobia is seeking strategic investors who understand that the most underserved trade corridor in the world connects Africa's geology to China's industry — and that owning the direct pipeline between them is a generational opportunity.

Platform
afrobia.com
Investor Relations
investors@afrobia.com
Trade & Commodity
trade@afrobia.com
WhatsApp
+252 61 000 0000