Intra-African Trade Rose 5.47% to US$213.8bn in 2025, Afreximbank Report Shows

Towncrier Africa | Trade & Economy

Intra-African trade rose by 5.47 percent in 2025 to reach US$213.8 billion, up from US$202.7 billion a year earlier, according to Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2026.

The figure offers one of the clearest statistical snapshots yet of Africa’s regional trade momentum at a time when the African Continental Free Trade Area is moving from policy ambition into the more difficult phase of implementation. It also shows that while the continent’s internal market is expanding, the scale of intra-African trade remains modest when set against Africa’s total merchandise trade of nearly US$1.5 trillion.

The Afreximbank report, titled Leveraging Geopolitics for Trade and Industrialisation in Global Africa, says the improvement in intra-African trade was supported by robust growth in several countries, including Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia. South Africa remained the largest contributor to intra-African trade, accounting for 19.2 percent of the total, although its share was marginally lower than in the previous year.

The headline number matters because intra-African trade is widely seen as one of the strongest tests of whether Africa can turn regional integration into industrial expansion. Unlike the continent’s traditional external trade pattern, which is still heavily shaped by raw commodities and imports of finished or intermediate goods, trade within Africa carries greater potential for regional value chains, processed goods, manufacturing inputs, services and small business participation.

Afreximbank links the intra-African trade story to a wider continental agenda: accelerating AfCFTA implementation, expanding trade finance, strengthening transport and logistics infrastructure and deepening digital payment systems such as the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System. These priorities reflect a central message of the report: Africa’s trade opportunity will not be unlocked by tariff liberalisation alone.

The report’s foreword notes that merchandise trade expanded by 6.1 percent in 2025 to approximately US$1.5 trillion, while intra-African trade grew by 5.5 percent to about US$213.8 billion. That means Africa’s internal trade is growing, but it is still only a fraction of the continent’s broader trade flows. This gap explains why policymakers, development finance institutions and private-sector actors continue to focus on the practical barriers that limit cross-border African commerce.

Those barriers remain familiar: high logistics costs, weak transport corridors, limited warehousing and cold-chain capacity, uneven customs processes, currency and payment frictions, fragmented standards, limited trade information, and a persistent shortage of affordable trade finance for smaller firms. For many African exporters, the problem is not only whether there is demand in a neighbouring market. It is whether they can finance production, move goods reliably, settle payments efficiently and comply with rules across borders.

This is why AfCFTA implementation is increasingly being judged less by the number of legal instruments signed and more by evidence of practical trade expansion. The 2025 increase to US$213.8 billion suggests progress, but it also underscores how much room remains for deeper commercial integration. If Africa’s internal market is to become a platform for industrialisation, intra-African trade must move beyond incremental growth into a phase of scale, diversification and value addition.

Afreximbank’s report situates this challenge within a changing global environment. Geopolitical fragmentation, trade disputes, disruptions to shipping routes and supply-chain realignment are creating both risks and openings for African economies. As companies and countries look for more resilient production networks, Africa has an opportunity to position regional markets as a source of demand, production and investment. But that opportunity will depend on whether countries can build the infrastructure and institutional systems needed to trade with one another more efficiently.

The report points to Afreximbank’s support for the 2025 Intra-African Trade Fair in Algiers, organised with the African Union Commission and the AfCFTA Secretariat, as part of broader efforts to showcase African goods, services and investment opportunities. It also highlights work to strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises, improve capacity around AfCFTA regulatory frameworks and expand access to trade finance.

For African businesses, the message is direct: the continent’s next trade frontier is not only overseas. It is also regional. A manufacturer in Ghana, a logistics firm in Kenya, a food processor in Côte d’Ivoire, a creative enterprise in Nigeria or an industrial supplier in South Africa may find growth opportunities in African markets if the operating environment becomes more predictable and less costly.

The 5.47 percent increase is therefore both a positive signal and a policy reminder. It shows that intra-African trade is moving in the right direction. But it also shows that the continent’s integration agenda will require sustained execution: working borders, bankable trade finance, efficient ports, connected corridors, interoperable payment systems, investable industrial parks, credible standards and a stronger pipeline of African firms ready to sell across the continent.

If AfCFTA is to become more than a trade agreement, the growth of intra-African trade must increasingly be measured in factories supplied, jobs created, regional value chains built and businesses able to scale beyond national borders. On that test, the rise to US$213.8 billion in 2025 is progress — but also a reminder of the work ahead.

Source: Afreximbank, African Trade Report 2026: Leveraging Geopolitics for Trade and Industrialisation in Global Africa.