News & Updates

FY2021 Survey on Business Conditions of Japanese Companies in Africa

Apr 15, 2022

Business sentiment recovered to the same level as in previous years, but varied by country -Promising areas are food, electrical power and renewable energy-

In September 2021, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) conducted its latest survey on business operations of Japanese-affiliated firms in 23 countries in Africa.

Survey outline:

Method	Questionnaire
Period	September 1 to 30, 2021
Target	335 companies in 23 countries (Valid responses received from 258 companies in 20 countries, response rate of 77.0%)
Question items	Operating Profit Outlook Future Business Outlook Investment Environment in Africa Business Areas with Future Promise and Countries of Interest Reference

Key points of the results:

The percentage of companies expecting operating profit in 2021 increased by 12.7 points from the previous year to 49.2%, on par with previous years. While the percentage for South Africa was above the global average, it was below the global average in all other countries. In some countries, the figure did not yet recover to pre-COVID-19 levels or had decreased from 2020.
The percentage of companies expecting business expansion increased by 6.8 points to 48.6%. More than 70% of companies operating in Africa highly evaluated the market size/growth potential. On the other hand, more than 50% of the companies answered that there were investment risks related to the development and implementation of regulation or legislation and unstable situations. AfCFTA continued to attract a high level of attention.
Top promising business areas are food in the consumer market and electrical power in the infrastructure market. In the resources and energy category, renewable energy accounted for more than 80% of the answers, surpassing the percentage for natural gas and oil. As in the previous years, countries of interest are Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria (from the 1st place to the 3rd place). Ghana ranked 4th, because it was highly evaluated as the business hub in West Africa.

FY2021 Survey on Business Conditions of Japanese Companies in Africa (1.2MB)