Bilateral Trade Among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Economies: An Empirical Analysis

In the backdrop of increasing share of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economies in the total world commodity trade, the prime objective of the present study is to determine the export and import intensities of total commodities among the economies forming the BRICS group. For this purpose, the present study undertakes an empirical analysis of bilateral trade among BRICS economies using indices of export and import intensity for a 10-year time period, commencing from the year 2006 (the year in which the BRIC grouping was formalized) to the year 2015, so as to determine the degree of trade integration among the partner nations. As a thumb rule, when an economy’s export and import intensity index values are estimated to be greater than one with the same trading partner, then it reflects a high degree of trade integration between them. With regard to the findings of the present study, wherever the regional integration among certain member countries of the BRICS is found to be on the higher side, the composition of exports and imports has also been provided for the dominant commodities. Thus, in the present study, the calculation of trade intensities, identification of specific commodities and incidence of higher trade integration within the BRICS countries present the collective picture of their mutual trade flows, which has further helped in the identification of policy-relevant points in this regard.