Among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the BRICS), Brazil was the biggest trading partner of the eastern Chinese city of Xiamen last year, Xinhua reports.

The Chinese government-run news agency says data given by the customs service last week show that the annual value of trade between Xiamen and Brazil rose last year by 12.5 per cent to 22.65 billion yuan (about US$3.58 billion), accounting for 30.7 per cent of trade between the city and the BRICS as a whole.

The annual value of trade between Xiamen and the bloc rose last year by 20.7 per cent to 73.78 billion yuan, the report says.

It says the 2017 meeting of BRICS leaders was held in Xiamen.

The BRICS Partnership on New Industrial Revolution Innovation Center was formed in Xiamen in 2020, Xinhua says, and the resulting centre opened there last September, according to another Chinese news agency, the state-run China News Service.