Since 2000, China has consistently been the largest exporter of goods among the BRICS countries, and its share of exports from the bloc has increased significantly. In the year 2000, China's share of BRICS exports was just over ** percent; in 2020, this share has risen to ** percent. Among the other BRICS countries, Russia has always had the second-largest share of exports, and South Africa the smallest, while India overtook Brazil in 2009.

Among BRICS countries, Russia's major trade partner was China, having the highest export and import value in 2021. With India, Russia had the largest trade balance, measuring at approximately *** billion U.S. dollars. In total, Russian exports to BRICS countries reached nearly **** billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

Trade facilitation is essential for enhancing the import and export of agricultural products between China and BRICS countries. Improving trade efficiency and identifying potential opportunities contribute to establishing formal cooperation mechanisms among nations, laying a robust foundation for the development and collaboration of BRICS countries post-expansion. This study developed a comprehensive indicator system and employed principal component analysis to assess trade facilitation levels among BRICS member states. Additionally, we employed a stochastic frontier gravity model to examine the trade efficiency and potential impact of BRICS trade facilitation on China’s agricultural imports and exports from 2009 to 2022. The findings suggest that the overall level of trade facilitation in BRICS countries remains relatively low, with considerable scope for enhancement. The United Arab Emirates exhibits the highest level of trade facilitation, whereas Ethiopia shows the lowest. Factors such as economic status, business environment, and advancements in technology positively influence trade efficiency, while inadequate infrastructure impedes it. A notable disparity exists in the average trade efficiency of agricultural imports and exports between China and BRICS countries, with Russia displaying the highest efficiency and Iran the lowest. Brazil demonstrates significant trade potential, whereas the trade demand between Iran and China is comparatively minimal. The results are important for policymakers, pointing to the need for specialized trade policies and agricultural management strategies that reflect the diverse characteristics and challenges within BRICS economies.

China takes up ************ of overall trade within BRICS in 2022, the economic partnership between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. China records significant trade figures with all four other members within BRICS. Brazil and Russia focus towards the Asian country. India-South Africa, interestingly, is higher than that of India-Russia or Russia-Brazil, two relatively established partnerships. It should also be noted that several countries allegedly hope to join BRICS in the foreseeable future. These countries - notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE - are oriented towards India and China when it comes to trade. These potential applications follow amidst rumors in 2023 of the creation of BRICS currency - which would allow member countries to pay for trade without having to use the U.S. dollar.

Since 2000, China has consistently been the largest importer of goods of the BRICS countries, with a value of more than ************ U.S. dollars in 2020. China's value of imported goods has grown significantly across these two decades; values in 2018 were over **** times larger than values for 2000. India's imports in 2018 were also ** times higher in 2018 than in 2000. For Russia and Brazil, however, their peak years came in the early-2010s, just before both countries went into recession. South Africa's value of imported goods has also increased, and was over *** billion U.S. dollars in most years of the 2010s. In 2000, the value of goods imported to China was comparable to the other four BRICS countries combined; in 2022, the value was more than double the other countries combined.

The BRICS countries overtook the G7 countries share of the world's total gross domestic product (GDP) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2018. By 2024, the difference had increased even further, the BRICS now holding a total 35 percent of the world's GDP compared to 30 percent held by the G7 countries.

The statistic shows the value of exports of goods from India from 2013 to 2023. In 2023, goods with a value of around 432 billion U.S. dollars were exported from India. Trade and economy in India Being one of the BRIC countries, India is one of the leading emerging market countries worldwide, and one of the fastest-growing economies. It is ranked second among the countries with the largest population, and is expected to have surpassed China in about 50 years. As for India’s economy, the country has been reporting a promising development of key figures over the last few years: Gross domestic product / gdp in India has been increasing significantly, while inflation in India and other indicators, such as the country’s unemployment rate, have been more or less stable. India is also among the countries with the largest gross domestic product / gdp and among those with the highest gross domestic product growth. The vast majority of India’s labor force works in agriculture – the industrial and the services sector both make up about 25 percent each of the country’s economy. India’s main export partners are the United Arab Emirates, the United States and China; the country’s leading exports include textile goods, software, and petroleum products. As for import, India mainly imports crude oil, chemicals and machinery, again, from China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

In 2024, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China amounted to around 18.7 trillion U.S. dollars. In comparison to the GDP of the other BRIC countries India, Russia and Brazil, China came first that year and second in the world GDP ranking. The stagnation of China's GDP in U.S. dollar terms in 2022 and 2023 was mainly due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. China's real GDP growth was 3.1 percent in 2022 and 5.4 percent in 2023. In 2024, per capita GDP in China reached around 13,300 U.S. dollars. Economic performance in China Gross domestic product (GDP) is a primary economic indicator. It measures the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy over a certain time period. China's economy used to grow quickly in the past, but the growth rate of China’s real GDP gradually slowed down in recent years, and year-on-year GDP growth is forecasted to range at only around four percent in the years after 2024. Since 2010, China has been the world’s second-largest economy, surpassing Japan.China’s emergence in the world’s economy has a lot to do with its status as the ‘world’s factory’. Since 2013, China is the largest export country in the world. Some argue that it is partly due to the undervalued Chinese currency. The Big Mac Index, a simplified and informal way to measure the purchasing power parity between different currencies, indicates that the Chinese currency yuan was roughly undervalued by 38 percent in 2024. GDP development Although the impressive economic development in China has led millions of people out of poverty, China is still not in the league of industrialized countries on the per capita basis. To name one example, the U.S. per capita economic output was more than six times as large as in China in 2024. Meanwhile, the Chinese society faces increased income disparities. The Gini coefficient of China, a widely used indicator of economic inequality, has been larger than 0.45 over the last decade, whereas 0.40 is the warning level for social unrest.