The BRICS group of emerging economies--Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa--has expanded its members to ten since this January. Hunan foreign trade thus has welcomed opportunities brought by the "BRICS". Between January and July this year, Hunan Province's trade with other BRICS countries reached 59.68 billion CNY, an increase of 1.9%. Among them, the imports grew by 25.2% to 24.02 billion CNY. Since the beginning of June, Hunan's foreign trade has maintained positive growth for two consecutive months, the Changsha Customs authority said on August 14, 2024.

The BRICS nations showed profound market potential. In the first seven months, Hunan's trade with other BRICS countries accounted for about 20% of the provincial total foreign trade. Hunan's imports from and exports to its top three BRICS countries--Brazil, Russia, and South Africa--achieved 16.07 billion CNY, 12.5 billion CNY, and 10.7 billion CNY, up 23.1%, 10.3%, and 36.7% respectively. Hunan's foreign trade with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia, who joined the BRICS this January, totaled 11.38 billion CNY.

Changsha, Chenzhou, Xiangtan, Zhuzhou, and Huaihua have extended gains in trade with other BRICS countries during the January-July period. Among them, Changsha's foreign trade value increased by more than 50% to 4.2 billion CNY in July.

Exports of electromechanical products, construction machinery, and automobiles have grown significantly. They are also major commodities exported from Hunan to other BRICS countries. In the first seven months, the exports of electromechanical products reached 26.55 billion CNY, construction machinery 8.73 billion CNY, and automobiles 7.41 billion CNY, up 25.3%, 36.2%, and 77.9% year on year, respectively. The Changsha BYD Auto Co., Ltd. saw a surge in electric vehicle exports, up 46 times year on year and accounting for about a quarter of the total value of Hunan Province's automobile exports to other BRICS countries during the same period.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn