UNCTAD Data Shows BRICS Trade Is Surging and Quietly Rewiring Global Supply Chains

MTrade inside th BRICS bloc has been growing in plain sight for years. The latest UNCTAD report shows how far this shift has gone. This matters beyond the five original economics.

Intra-BRICS trade reached about $1.17 trillion in 2024. This is up from just $84 billion in 2003, according to UNCTAD data. That’s an average annual growth rate of 13.3%. It is worth noting that this is far ahead of global trade, which expanded at roughly 5.7% over the same period.

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How BRICS Trade Growth and UNCTAD Data Reveal New Global Supply Chains

This isn’t a marginal trend. BRICS countries collectively exported $5.9 trillion worth of goods last year. The group even accounted for around 24% of global exports. About 20 years ago, their share was half that.

Much of this expansion is happeing within the Global South itslef. UNCTAD estimates South-South trade reached $6.8 trillion in 2025. Developing economies now send about 57% of their exports to other developing countries. This marks a notable shift from the mid-1990s.

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BRICS sits at the center of this transition. China remains the largest manufcating hub within the bloc. Meanwhile, India has emerged as a major exporter of pharmaceuticals, machinery and refined products. Brazil and South Africa play key roles as commodity suppliers, feeding industrial demand across Asia and beyond. These connections are forming supply chain corridors that link emerging markets directly to each other. This further recudes reliance on older trade routes.

The BRICS+ expansion is expected to deepen these connections. New members and partner counrties bring additional energy resources. This also strengtens trade links across regions including the Middle East, Africa and Asia. BRICS as a central platform for South-South trade intergration gets a boost through this.

UNCTAD data also shows developing countries now account for more than 40% of global merchandise trade. This rise has reportedly been driven by industrilization, investmenhts and closer regional trade among these economies over the past 20 years.

Taken together, the numbers point to a structural change instead of a temporary spike. BRICS trade is expanding faster than global averages, South-South trade continues to grow and global supply chains are becoming more distributed.

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