China’s Multilateral Trade With BRICS and Africa Show Significant 7M 2023 Increases
China-BRICS trade has overtaken China-United States trade
By Chris Devonshire-Ellis September 5, 2023
China’s imports and exports with other BRICS members expanded 19.1% year on year to ¥2.38 trillion (about US$330.62 billion) between January and July 2023, according to statistics from the Chinese General Administration of Customs. The BRICS include China in addition to Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa.
China’s exports grew 23.9% year on year to ¥1.23 trillion, (US$168.6 billion) while imports rose 14.3% from a year ago to ¥1.15 trillion (US$157.6 billion). The figures illustrate a remarkable balance between BRICS imports and exports with China.
Trade with the BRICS countries accounted for 10.1% of China’s total foreign trade during the 7M 2023.
The previous year (2022) of China’s trade with the BRICS showed an increase of 17% over 2021.
China’s trade with Africa is also increasing and rose 7.4% during the same January-July 2023 period to ¥1.22 billion over the 2022 figure of ¥1.14 trillion yuan (@158.36 billion U.S. dollars). That growth continues from the previous year, which had increased by 14.8% over 2021.
South Africa, a BRICS member is China’s largest trade partner in Africa, followed by Nigeria and Angola.
China is the Africa’s largest export destination. In the 7M 2023, China imported Nigeria and Angola were China’s second and third largest trading partners in the continent during the first seven months.
China is the Africa’s largest export destination. In the past seven months, the nation imported ¥426.65 billion worth of goods from Africa, including crude oil, iron ore and copper. In the same period, China’s imports of agricultural products from Africa increased 20% to reach ¥ 23.66 billion.
To compare, China’s bilateral trade with the United States during this period was US$324.9 billion, meaning that China’s BRICS trade has marginally overtaken its trade with the United States.
With an expanded BRICS from January 2024 to also include Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the collective BRICS will carry more trade clout in Beijing than Washington.
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