Official data indicate that the annual value of Sino-Angolan trade rose to US$23 billion last year, making Angola the third-biggest trading partner of China in Africa, Voice of America (VoA) reports.

Figures given by the Chinese customs service and other official bodies show that the annual value of trade between China and Africa as a whole rose by 35 per cent last year to US$254 billion, the most in any year yet, according to a report posted online on Tuesday by the US public broadcaster to audiences abroad.

The report says 21 per cent of that sum was due to trade with South Africa, 10 per cent to trade with Nigeria and 9 per cent to trade with Angola.

Angola had a huge surplus in its trade with China last year, having exported goods worth US$21 billion to the Chinese market, crude oil accounting for about 70 per cent of that value, the report says.

The main African exports to China are minerals, metals, oil and farm produce, VoA says.