The first shipments of avocados from Kenya arrived in China under Beijing's new zero-tariff rule early this month. A clear sign, analysts say, that the deal is starting to have real effects.
The policy, which came into effect on May 1, gives Africa's biggest economies tariff-free access to China's market for the next two years.
"China introducing the zero tariff is very very encouraging," Olive Gichuri, a Kenyan coffee farmer, told DW. "It means better earnings for the farmers. When our coffee becomes very competitive, it means more demand and also more market for farmers."
"They [farmers] are not only limited to selling their products in the local [Kenyan] market," Gichuri said, adding that the zero tariff had opened the market in China.
Lauren Johnston, a senior research fellow and international economist specializing in China, Africa and geoeconomics at the AustChina Institute in Melbourne, told DW that the policy "is actually a gift mainly to Africa's stronger economies that are middle-income countries and that are sort of well-positioned to elevate exports."
