Ningbo to strengthen trade with new BRICS members
- Details
- Category: Governmental News
- Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 15:31
The BRICS family has new members once again. From January 1, nine countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Belarus have become BRICS partner countries. This is another important progress in the development of BRICS, following the historic expansion achieved in 2023. The nine countries are from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, indicating that the “Greater BRICS Cooperation” has achieved a wider scope and stronger representativeness.
Ningbo has always had frequent trade relations with the BRICS countries. Then what will the new partners bring to Ningbo?
For Ningbo enterprises, it means a larger market and more orders.
In recent days, the production line of Zhuyun Home Furnishings Co., Ltd. has been busy, as workers are working hard to produce a batch of exquisite furniture to be shipped to Malaysia. “Malaysia is one of our important export destinations, and our new products have been well received there. In the first 11 months of 2024, our export orders to Malaysia exceeded three million yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 90%, indicating its huge market potential.” said Chen Shanjuan, the sales manager of Zhuyun Home Furnishings, who is very optimistic about the market prospects of new partner countries of the BRICS.
It is the also the case with Wohong Metal Co., Ltd. in Ningbo. “We have maintained stable cooperation with these new partner countries. We import copper and other goods from such countries as Indonesia all year round, and the import trade volume is expected to reach five million yuan in 2024,” said a person in charge from the company. “The expansion of BRICS membership is good news to us, and we can take advantage of the opportunity to achieve more cooperation.”
According to statistics from Ningbo Customs, in terms of trade cooperation with the nine newly added BRICS partner countries, such private enterprises as Zhuyun Home Furnishings and Wohong Metal are the main force in import and export. In the first 11 months of 2024, private enterprises in Ningbo achieved a total volume for imports and exports of 92.9 billion yuan with the nine newly added BRICS partner countries, a year-on-year increase of 25.3%, accounting for 82.1% of Ningbo’s total imports and exports to BRICS partner countries.
For Ningbo, the expanded BRICS family has richer human and natural resources, and greater market and economic potential, which is conducive to deeper economic and trade cooperation. In the first 11 months of 2024, Ningbo achieved a total import and export volume of 296.98 billion yuan with the nine BRICS member countries and these nine newly added BRICS partner countries, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%; Among them, Ningbo achieved an import and export volume of 113.2 billion yuan to the nine newly added BRICS partner countries, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%, which is 12.8 percentage points higher than the overall import and export growth rate of the BRICS, demonstrating Ningbo’s potential cooperation with the expanded BRICS family.
According to statistics from Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Commerce, over 10,000 foreign trade enterprises in Ningbo have trade relations with other BRICS member countries, accounting for about 40% of the city’s foreign trade enterprises. They have a good foundation for cooperation in fields of agriculture and manufacturing.
This year, the number of cooperative enterprises will significantly increase, and the range of cooperation will continue to expand. What will then be the specific focus of efforts?
According to Jiang Xijun, Director of Zhejiang Research Institute of Great Wall Strategic Consulting, the influence of the BRICS family in global affairs is increasing, and it contributes a lot to global economic growth. “In the manufacturing sector, Ningbo can strengthen cooperation with other BRICS countries in such basic industries as steel, chemicals, and textiles, and can also try to precisely connect with emerging and green industries, like new energy vehicles.”
Mr. Xu, an industry insider, stated that judging from Ningbo’s investment in other BRICS member countries, there is great potential for cooperation in such fields as technological innovation, education, and environmental protection. There is also a great prospect for cooperation in cross-border e-commerce, logistics, finance, new energy, and cultural exchanges