A livestream of Sawa-Africa Shopping Festival is held to promote African goods on Douyin on May 5. [Photo/ywcity.cn]

Chinagoods, an online platform launched by Yiwu-based Zhejiang China Commodities City Group, hosted a livestream to promote African goods on Douyin on May 5.

The event was part of the Sawa-Africa Shopping Festival, which was held simultaneously in Rwanda, Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Jinhua Vocational and Technical College.

A number of high-quality agricultural and sideline products displayed in the "Take You to China" exhibition hall of Rwanda in the Yiwu Small Commodities Markets were promoted online, allowing Chinese buyers to learn about a variety of African products.

Over 30 foreign trade enterprises doing business with African companies were also invited to participate in the livestream.

He Bin, director of Zhejiang Kingston Logistics Co, said the company has been actively expanding its import business in Africa over the past two years. They learned all about African products during the event, helping them prepare for future interactions.

The two-hour event saw 123,000 yuan ($18,245.8) in orders, according to organizers.

Yiwu has seen closer trade with Africa in recent years. In 2021, foreign trade between the two increased by 14.5 percent annually to 76.25 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, online events are being held across China to promote a variety of African products to the public during a 15-day online African Product Shopping Festival that will last until May 12.

Through e-commerce platforms, Chinese consumers can now easily shop for African goods like coffee from Ethiopia, black tea from Kenya and wine from South Africa.

Meanwhile, livestream e-commerce is fast becoming a new driving force behind China-Africa trade, with young Africans living in China also joining in.