African Food and Art

Thank you to our latest donor, Tony. Thank you, Tony. We were able to purchase three new stainless steel pots to continue our cooking and teaching heritage.

What Does Africa and The NYSE Have to do with Each Other

What Does Africa and The NYSE Have to do with Each Other

Africa's Coffee, Cocoa, and Cotton rule the New York Stock Exchange Intercontinental Exchange Group soft commodities market. African influences are extensive in the softs markets and are of vital importance to the international soft commodity trading of the world.

African influences are extensive in the NYSE softs markets


Africa's Influence On The New York Stock Exchange and China

A stock exchange is a facility where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock and bonds and other financial instruments. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization.

African influences are extensive in the soft markets especially in the case of cotton, cocoa, and coffee and are of vital importance to the international soft commodity trade on the Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange Group or ICE of the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE.

According to ICE, it became the center of global trading in soft commodities with its acquisition of the New York Board of Trade in 2007. Now known as ICE Futures U.S., the exchange offers futures and options on futures on soft commodities including coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, and frozen concentrated orange juice. 
What is a soft commodity? The definition of a soft commodity is a resource that is grown rather than mined such as coffee, cocoa, sugar, maize or corn, cotton, and tea. 

Unroasted coffee is Africa’s leading soft commodities value export, cocoa beans are second and cotton lint is the third. Soft commodities play a major part in the futures market. 

 What are futures? Futures are contracts that require traders to buy or sell assets at a set price at a set date in the future allowing farmers and other food producers to lock in the prices they would get for crops even before harvest time.

 The top export is cotton around 40% of $8.3 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or $3.3 billion. Africa's three C’s Coffee, Cocoa, and Cotton rule the NYSE-ICE futures soft commodities market.

China as a foreign investor in Africa

China is the largest developing country foreign investor in Africa. Significant Chinese investment and development finance have been channeled into infrastructure. Trade with China is growing much faster than that with the United States and the European Union. 

The relationship started in the early 1980s, as part of concerted diplomatic efforts promoting Chinese economic cooperation with Africa. The largest share directed toward the resource sector, notably in South Africa, Angola, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, and Uganda.

There are 16 major exchanges in Africa, 30 in total.

Ghana Stock Exchange

Lusaka Stock Exchange

Malawi Stock Exchange

Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Bond Exchange of South Africa

Stock Exchange of Mauritius

Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

Namibia Stock Exchange

Botswana Stock Exchange

Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange

Abidjan Stock Exchange

Casablanca Stock Exchange

Nigeria Stock Exchange

Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange

Uganda Securities Exchange

Nairobi Stock Exchange

China is only one of several major emerging economies with an interest in Africa, the others being Brazil, India, The Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and Turkey.

Africa received nearly half of the cumulative $54 billion provided by China in global foreign aid through 2012 significantly more than any other region. Chinese development assistance is frequently packaged into agreements that mix grants and investment, and concessional and non-concessional loans.

Investments in infrastructure and mining are likely to slow, given the recent decreases in global commodity prices, Chinese investment should continue to add to the domestic demand for goods and services in Africa.

Did you know
Africa’s Top 10 most value exported soft commodities according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2011 are in order cocoa beans, unroasted coffee, cotton lint, rubber natural dry, unmanufactured tobacco, oranges, tea, refined sugar, maize, and unshelled cashew nuts. 


Africa's three C’s Coffee, Cocoa, and Cotton rule the NYSE-ICE futures soft commodities market.


Getting to Know Africa

Historical African Country Name
Top 20 Largest Countries in Africa
How many countries does Africa have?

Learn more about Africa.

Roots of Africanized Christianity Spiritual Songs
Chocolate Processing Facts History and Recipes
Awesome Kenyan Woman
Land is Not For Women in Sierra Leone
African Kente Cloth Facts
Accra the Ghanaian Capital Ultimate Mall Experience

Chic African Culture and The African Gourmet=

Week’s Best African Culture Posts

What is the difference between ugali and fufu

Image
How to make the popular African recipes Ugali and Fufu and what is the difference.  Ugali is a starch dish in Kenya and Tanzania made of fine cornmeal cooked in boiling water into a soft dough. Fufu is a thick, dough-like West African food made by boiling then pounding a starchy vegetable such as yam, plantain, or cassava or a mixture of starchy vegetables. The main difference between fufu and ugali is fufu is boiled first then pounded while ugali is simply boiled. Ugali recipe. Easy Ugali Recipe Prep time 5 minutes Cook time 30 minutes Total time 30 minutes Ingredients 4 cups finely ground cornmeal 8 cups water Directions Heat water to boiling in a saucepan. Slowly pour cornmeal into boiling water stirring continuously. Add more cornmeal if necessary until it is thick as soft bread dough. Serve immediately with vegetables, stew, or any dish you would use a spoon with to soak up the sauce, ugali is purposely bland tasting on its own. What is the difference between ugali and
Learn More About Africa

Top 20 Largest Countries in Africa

Image
African Country by Size List. Africa Which are the top twenty largest, smallest, and territorial country in Africa by land area? 1. The continent of Africa is the world’s second largest based on land area and population just after Asia. 2. Top five largest countries of Africa are Algeria, Congo Democratic Republic of the, Sudan, Libya and Chad. 3. Top five smallest African countries and territories are Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Saint Helena and Mayotte. African Country from largest to smallest Area sq mile Area sq km Algeria 919,595 2,381,740 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) 905,568 2,345,410 Sudan 718,723 1,861,484 Libya 679,362 1,759,540 Chad 495,755 1,284,000 Niger 489,191 1,267,000 Angola 481,354 1,246,700 Mali 478,767 1,240,000 South Africa 471,011 1,219,912 Ethiopia 435,186 1,127,127 Mauritania 397,95
Learn More About Africa

Ethiopian Midwest American Hotdish

Image
Our Ethiopian hot dish combines Ethiopian cooking with classic Minnesota Midwest casserole meal. The hot dish’s origins are a product of settlers traditions in Midwest America dating back to the early 20th century. A hot-dish or casserole is a one-pan meal that traditionally includes a combination of starch like potatoes, pasta, or rice, ground meat, vegetables, and a creamy canned soup base, all topped with crunchy goodness like breadcrumbs or tater tots. The concept of hot dish became popular in the Upper Midwest, particularly in states like Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, in the 1930s and 1940s. This period was marked by economic challenges, including the Great Depression. The need for economical and filling meals led to the creation of dishes that could be stretched to feed many people using simple, affordable ingredients . Hot dishes became synonymous with potlucks, church suppers, and social gatherings. These events were central to rural and small-town communities, where
Learn More About Africa

Neck elongation rings how to put on and take off

Image
Neck elongation rings how to put on and take off. Idzila are Ndebele wives traditionally wear rings around the neck as a status symbol and wear rings around the arms, legs, and neck. Wearing Neck Rings. For centuries, married South African Ndebele tribes’ women saw wearing heavy rings around their neck as an honored status symbol. Neck rings are any form of stiff necklaces worn around the neck of an individual. The neck rings are usually made of copper or brass. During initiation, girls wear an array of colorfully beaded hoops called izigolwan around their legs, arms, waist, and neck. After marriage, the Ndebele wife would wear copper and brass rings around her arms, legs, and neck, symbolizing her bond and faithfulness to her husband, once her home was built. Idzila rings were believed to have strong ritual powers. Husbands used to provide their wives with rings; the richer the husband, the more rings the wife would wear. These outward symbols can be removed only in ca
Learn More About Africa