Brazil is now the fourth largest trading partner of China’s capital Beijing, according to official data released by the city’s customs authority on Tuesday.
Beijing municipality saw 11.6 percent growth in exports in the first quarter of 2023 to reach a total of 899.24 billion yuan (about US$129 billion), Global Times reports. The surge was driven by significant trade volumes with emerging economies.
With a population of 21.5 million, and 16 districts, the capital city is China’s prime economic engine, responsible for more than a fifth of the country’s trade in the three-month period. It was the biggest contributor to foreign trade in 2022.
[See more: China and Brazil are ditching the greenback in trade with each other]
Trade between Brazil, Beijing and the rest of China is set to strengthen further with the signing of several bilateral economic agreements during Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s visit to China earlier this month.
Two-way trade between the two countries nearly doubled from 2017 to $171.5 billion last year, according to Bloomberg, with China being Brazil’s biggest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.
In March, the two countries said they planned to ditch the US dollar in favour of their own currencies when trading with each other. President Lula has also proposed the creation of a new currency for trade between the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
