China's Dominance in BRICS Bilateral Trade

By Raulin Cadet | Published Sept. 4, 2023 | Updated Sept. 13, 2023 | Topics: Trade, BRICS, China

In the world of international trade, one question that piques our curiosity is: what are the most important bilateral trade relationships among the BRICS economies? The BRICS economies are: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. There is a collective ambition among them to challenge the dominance of the US dollar. However, it is evident that not all economies within the group carry the same weight. In this post, we'll uncover the primary bilateral trade relationships among BRICS economies.

Concepts

Our key concepts for this post are exports and bilateral trade. Exports represent the products and services that a country trades with the rest of the world. Typically, the value of exports is measured in a widely accepted currency, like the US dollar. In this blog post, we'll focus mainly on the export of physical goods. Bilateral trade refers to the exchange of goods and services between two economies, often with the aim of fostering trade and investments by reducing tariffs. It's worth noting that bilateral trade doesn't always hinge on formal agreements between the involved countries.

China's Dominance

We consider data, provided by Trade Map, related to the US dollar value of exports between BRICS countries. As expected, China plays a pivotal role in the top bilateral trade relationships within BRICS, as reveal by our graphic. Over the past five years, Brazil and India emerge as China's most significant trading partners within the BRICS group. The graphic also reveals that trade relationships among the BRICS nations, excluding China, are comparatively weak.

What's Next?

While this post emphasizes China's role within BRICS, it's important to note that this is just part of the story. We haven't explored yet which countries benefit the most from these multilateral trade relationships. That's the exciting part we'll delve into in our next blog post.