The bilateral trade volume between China and African countries in 2010 is expected to exceed the record high of US$106.8 billion attained in 2008, said a report released Thursday by a research institute under the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

First published this year, the China-Africa Trade and Economic Relationship Annual Report said China-Africa trade declined from the beginning of 2009 before it returned to growth last November, thanks to the rebounding world economy.

The report, compiled by the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC), a think tank with the MOC, said that China and African countries would provide each other with a broad market as their economies continued to grow.

China witnessed a 11.1 percent economic growth in the first half of 2010, according to official data.

Africa's economic growth rate was predicted to reach 4.5 percent in 2010 and 5.2 percent in 2011, the report quoted the African Development Bank as saying.

The report also noted that both China and Africa had growing demands for products and technologies from each other during the process of industrialization and urbanization.

"China and Africa are also highly complementary in the field of investment,"said Huo Jianguo, the CAITEC head.

China became the biggest trade partner of Africa for the first time in 2009, when China's direct investment in African countries reached 1.44 billion U.S. dollars, in which non-financial direct investment soared by 55.4 percent from the previous year.

There is tremendous potential for economic cooperation, said Zhong Manying, chief of the Department of Western Asian and African Affairs with the MOC.

The scope of bilateral cooperation covers manufacturing, renewable energy, aviation, transportation and financial sector, among other fields, Zhong said.

Due to the global economic downturn, Sino-African trade volume shrank 15 percent year on year to 91.07 billion U.S. dollars in 2009.