The BRICS: Locating the Economic Shift

Living in the age of advanced technology, while connecting ideas and thoughts within a global network, one seldom realizes the implications that are produced. For instance, consider the economic shift on a global scale. Every nation that has an urge towards its economic development knows the ground rules of the current age, i.e., to be alone is to perish. Connections and networking rule the present economy and one need to be shrewd enough to realize what connections will produce beneficial returns for them.

What constitutes the BRICS?  Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa  -- what might be the crucial connecting link between these nations? Out of the five, four are developing economies. In a decade or two from now, these emerging economies will play a major role in the global economic sector. For present, it will be interesting to consider the role each nation plays in the global scale.

Let's start with China, the most prominent nation in terms of its population as well as its yearly production. Now consider the following facts that make China, a boon as well as a threat, being a part of the BRICS. When it comes to the production of crude oil, China produces 4.2 million barrels per day, a relatively small proportion compared to other BRICS nations. As a BRICS partner, China's contribution is not a small number as together with other BRICS nations, the production of crude oil makes a marked difference on the global scale.

Moving further when one analyzes the statistics of the precious metals production, the BRICS nations stand a class apart. Together they dominate the mine supplies. Mining can be considered the fate of the BRICS nations which show record productions with respect to different precious metals.

As a bricpartner, China has emerged as the world's largest gold producer. According to the verifiable statistics, China produced 380 metric tons of Gold last year, to maintain its unrelenting hold on the position. Six years ago, South Africa was leading the charts, but the annual output of gold mines in China took a sudden leap to break the record and since then, China has not looked back.  China's gold mining industry has shown a tremendous rise and owing to that, China as a bricpartner has proven to be a beneficial asset.

Now, shifting our focus to other raw material productions from China, one sees how the shift is balanced by the other BRICS partners. China's share of consumption of raw material increases in this shift. This is quite understandable when one considers China as a nation with a constant economic growth of 7%. At present, China is considered the manufacturing hub of the global economy, and for all the good reasons. How does a nation, with the world's largest population, achieve that tremendous feat? It's not a question worth contemplation, as any kid with an average economy knowledge can answer that. Because China produces good cheaper than any other nation. We all are  familiar with 'Made in China' tags on the products we use on a daily basis. Buying expensive commodities may add to your class but leaves a steep hole in your pocket, and this gap is bridged by the China's products all over the world.

The threat we talked about, earlier in this article, focuses on this position of China as a Bricpartner which has a huge demand of consumption. This demand is justified when one considers its global position as a manufacturing hub but one may ask, what benefit does that provides to other BRICS nations?

Coming back to the Crude Oil Supply, of all the BRICS nations, Russia is the major producer with 10 million barrels of crude oil produce a day. Compared to other raw material production, both Russia and South Africa share a major percentage in the total production.

Platinum and Palladium production alone are overshadowed by the productions from BRICS nations. Combined together, the BRICS nation's production rule the global market economy.

Shifting our focus on the consumption side, the global shift as we discussed earlier, shows China's increasing demands. But a closer look into the production and consumption history of these global economies will show how intricately these are linked. Failure to correspond to the global needs of each nation will result in the downfall of that economy. In the competitive global world, there's no space for a stagnant economy, a rule these BRICS nations understand well.
Earlier this year the leaders of the BRICS nations announced its vision of a new development bank, tackling the problems of currency volatility for the future development. On a global scale, approval of this decision would open up a whole new enterprise for these BRICS partners.  This will not only ensure a macroeconomic stability for these nations but will also be a safety valve in case of debt. It also raises questions regarding the strength of this union. With time, most of the Unions have faltered to give way to individual enterprises. How different will be the fate of the BRICS nation enterprise?

It is quite reasonable to assume that a union so strong will receive opposition from the ruling world economies. Both, the US and the European Union, can surely keep their differences aside to build a stronger union, faced with a threat. But the purpose of BRICS nation is to build a global economy which gives an equal footing to the developing economic nations to compete.

The common motif of economic increase and stability is what keeps the BRICS partner nations together. As long as they understand that their growth on the global scale is interconnected, with each nation requiring the other to contribute to the development, their connection will continue to remain strong in the coming era. Their joint ventures, sharing of technology and a mutual understanding leading towards growth will lead the BRICS nation towards economic stability and perpetual growth. They will need to focus on balancing the production and consumption ratio while pertaining to their mutual agenda. Currently in the stage of development, within a few years, these emerging economies together as partners of the BRICS nations will provide a competitive challenge in the global sphere.