Tanger Med, a bridge that leans north
In 2025, Tanger Med handled 11.1 million containers, a continental record. But a bridge is judged by both its banks, and the southern one remains largely untapped.
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Critical minerals: Africa must process its resources at home
Africa holds 30% of the world's critical mineral reserves, including 95% of chromium reserves and 90% of platinum reserves. Yet less than a tenth of the global value added in these sectors is created on the continent.
The end of raw ore exports
Thirteen African countries, including Namibia, Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have restricted or banned the export of raw ore. The aim is clear: no longer export the minerals needed for the energy transition without processing them locally.
As the Policy Center for the New South points out in its April brief, local processing is not a nationalist posture. It is the condition for credible African industrialisation in batteries, semiconductors and solar panels.
Processing minerals locally is the condition for genuine industrialisation of the continent.
Europe's choice
Europe now has to choose. It can keep signing contracts limited to extraction and find, ten years from now, that it still depends on Asian supply chains. Or it can invest, together with the African Union, in refineries on the continent, metallurgy schools and transport infrastructure.
For the first time, the AfCFTA makes this option realistic: a single continental market makes large-scale plants viable. A balanced partnership is not budget support, but a shared value chain.
Africa's mineral resources should no longer be sold cheaply. They should be the foundation of its industrialisation.
Efficient Network — MEA Strategy & Development Consulting.