STORY: Livestreaming sales popular among exhibitors at China-Africa expo
DATELINE: June 29, 2023
LENGTH: 00:04:22
LOCATION: CHANGSHA, China
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of livestreaming e-commerce
2. various of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo held in China's Hunan
3. STANDUP 1 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
4. STANDUP 2 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
5. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SIYABONGA C. CWELE, South African ambassador to China
6. STANDUP 3 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
7. SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WANG HAIPENG, General manager of Hunan Small-Orange Cross-Border Technology Co., Ltd.
8. STANDUP 4 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
9. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
10. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): BENJAMIN MUEMA KLAFUMA, Livestreamer from Kenya
11. SOUNDBITE 5 (English): BENJAMIN MUEMA KLAFUMA, Livestreamer from Kenya

STORYLINE:

STANDUP 1 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
"China is one of the world's largest e-commerce markets. Not only is traditional e-commerce on digital platforms flourishing, many have embraced innovative models such as livestreaming, to boost sales. Today, at the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, underway in China's Hunan, livestreaming sales have also gone popular among the exhibitors."

As a new channel for foreign trade, cross-border e-commerce is injecting fresh impetus into China-Africa trade, bringing popularity to more and more African commodities in the Chinese market.

STANDUP 2 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
"Among the influencers and celebrities who promote products online, are even diplomats from Africa."

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): SIYABONGA C. CWELE, South African ambassador to China
"The e-commerce penetration, for instance, in China is very high. In South Africa, that's about 30 percent of commerce businesses. What is good with e-commerce business and the livestreaming we're doing now is that you can sell your products very fast. Yes, you pay the livestreamers a fair amount, everyone gets an amount, but your profits and turn-around is very quick.
It gives access to even the small producers because they can put these products on the online platform, as long as they have high quality, then people will buy them.
It is a win-win situation. China has done more in terms of investment in Africa. Now it is the largest trading partner of Africa. I know that (it has been) the largest trading partner of South Africa since 2009. And we are the largest trading partner of China since 2010 from the African continent."

STANDUP 3 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
"The booming e-commerce industry, especially the collaboration between China and Africa, has facilitated the development of the digital economy on the African continent. At Gaoqiao Grand Market, a sub-venue of the expo, a livestreaming e-commerce festival has attracted much attention."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Chinese): WANG HAIPENG, General manager of Hunan Small-Orange Cross-Border Technology Co., Ltd.
"We organized the online shopping festivals featuring quality African products. For the shopping festival, we are selling more than 100 African products online. We've invited around a dozen livestreamers, including two from Africa, to join us. One of the livestreamers has over 30 million followers. Then we sell the products from Africa on Douyin and Taobao via livestreaming. We also want to promote products from Hunan and sell them to Africa. And many companies have come here with purchasing needs of African buyers."

STANDUP 4 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
"Inside the E-commerce Livestreaming Incubator, young livestreamers are promoting specialty products such as food, handicrafts, coffee, wine and home products."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): YU JIAMING, Xinhua correspondent
"Benjamin. How's your preparation going for the livestreaming sales? And all these products came from Africa, right?"

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): BENJAMIN MUEMA KLAFUMA, Livestreamer from Kenya
"Yes, all these products come from Africa. And this toothpaste is made from the African toothbrush tree. Many people who use this toothpaste also share it with their family members and other friends and also keep coming back to buy more."

SOUNDBITE 5 (English): BENJAMIN MUEMA KLAFUMA, Livestreamer from Kenya
"Currently we've been doing the livestream for about one year and 8 months.  When we started the livestream, it was during the COVID period when a lot of people weren't able to visit markets and preferred to stay indoors.
Right now we mainly do our livestreams on Taobao account. And also our sales have improved greatly. Once we started the live broadcast, we usually had about 24 sales during one live broadcast. But right now in everyday sales, we are always reaching 1,000 plus."

China is Africa's largest trading partner and its fourth-biggest source of investment.

Official data showed that bilateral trade between China and Africa stood at 282 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Changsha, China.
(XHTV)