Trade between China and other BRICS countries enjoys great complementarity as industrial and consumer demands are being met through the multi-national partnerships in the group, an official from China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said in Beijing on Monday.
BRICS is a significant platform for the emerging-market countries, with the international organization initially including the six member countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, before expanding earlier this year to include five new members of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iran, and Ethiopia.
The upcoming 2024 BRICS Summit, set to take place in Russia's Kazan from Oct 22-24, is the first to be held since the group's expansion.
Speaking at a press briefing in the Chinese capital, Wang Lingjun, deputy director of GAC, outlined how the growth of the organization has reaped rewards in terms of trade.
"After the expansion, BRICS countries have a global trade share of over 20 percent, further increasing their international influence. In the first three quarters, China exported 4.62-trillion-yuan (about 650 billion U.S. dollars) worth of goods to other BRICS countries, increasing by 5.1 percent," said Wang.
Wang said the comparative advantages of goods from all sides are being unleashed with China already posting notable trade growth with other BRICS countries in the first three quarters of the year.
"For the industrial sector, the trade between China and the other BRICS countries fully unleashes the comparative advantages of their intermediate goods, achieving complementarity in basic industrial fields like the steel, the chemical and the textile sectors. In the first three quarters, the exports of steel and the textile raw materials from China to other BRICS countries increased by 8.6 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively. The amount of metal ores and the methanol imported by China from other BRICS countries grew by 14.4 percent and 34.3 percent, respectively," he said.
The emerging sectors of the other BRICS members are among the beneficiaries of the increased bilateral trade between countries, Wang said, adding that with its high-tech and advanced manufacturing system, China is capable of producing a wide range of intermediate goods to meet the growing demand of the other member states.
"With a complete manufacturing system and technological advantages, China has been helping promote the development of the other BRICS countries' emerging industries. In the first three quarters, the exports of the intermediate goods from China to other BRICS countries, including integrated circuits, display modules, and aircraft components, all posted double-digit growths," said Wang.
The diversified demands for agricultural products are also being met by the trade between China and other BRICS member states, with goods like poultry meat, seafood, and fresh fruit and vegetables proving popular among consumers, said Wang.
"For the agricultural industry, the competitive agricultural products from China and the other BRICS countries meet each other's diversified demands. Over 80 percent of China's imported poultry meat and frozen pollock are from the other BRICS countries and over 50 percent of the imported crabs are from there. The fruit and the vegetables exported from China, including garlic, tomatoes, and citrus are welcomed by the consumers in the other BRICS countries. In the first three quarters, their export growth all increased by over 20 percent," he said.
Trade between China, other BRICS members enjoys complementarity: official
