The Mineral Resource Sectors of BRICS Countries: Mutual Supplies and Regulation of the Global Market of Mineral Raw Materials

Abstract

The mineral resource sectors of BRICS countries complement each other perfectly; one of the possible areas for their cooperation in this field is the expansion of mutual trade in mineral commodities and metals in order to provide continuous supplies and price stability. In 2006–2018, the principal beneficiaries of such cooperation were Republic of South Africa and Brazil, which managed to sharply increase their exports of mineral commodities. At the same time, close cooperation with these countries allowed China to become the largest purchaser of mineral commodities and metals in the global market, to ensure continuous supplies and price stability, and to obtain access to mineral resources of the other countries from the organization. However, the expectations of future cooperation among BRICS countries relating to regulation of the global market of mineral resources were to be too high for a number of reasons.