China appears to be facing a double whammy on the export front. Close on the heels of bearing the brunt of trade war with the US, which would have made at least some of the Chinese made goods uncompetitive in the US market, thanks to the increased tariff clamped by the US, its shipments of the mobile phones to Africa have fallen into the negative zone. Maximum number of Chinese mobile phones is destined to Nigeria and South Africa in the continent. As per the data available, the export of mobile phones to these countries from China has fallen in the first quarter of 2019 (Jan-March 2019). Nigeria registered a drop of 11.9% in its import of mobile phones from China, bringing down the total units imported to 2.3 million in the first quarter, whereas the drop in South Africa was less severe, where it fell by 4% to 4.7 million. These data has been compiled by International Data Corporation (IDC). The reasons for the drop in sales are not far to seek. It is due to similar reasons both countries for cutting short their import of mobile phones-economic struggle and mounting unemployment. The much touted oil rich Nigeria grew just by 2% in the first quarter of the current year ending on 31st March, much lower than the growth rates achieved in the previous quarters. Added to this, there was a three week embargo on mobile imports prior to the general elections triggered by widespread agitations and related security issues. The postponement of the election by one week also exacerbated the security concerns. The case is not different in South Africa., where the annualized growth dipped to 3.2%, after a boom period of fourth quarter of the previous year, which coincided with vaulted demand for cheaper and mid-range models of mobile phones. The forecast by IDC is nothing to be cheered by the Chinese mobile manufacturers. The forecast is that the market sales will further decline by 5.3% to 50.9 million in the next quarter. IDC also reveals that there is an organized effort by the African countries to curb the heavy imports to save the precious foreign exchange. Also, they want more Chinese companies to manufacture or assemble locally leading to domestic value addition and employment.
