Cyril Ramaphosa: "developing economies have participated in global value chains mainly as…"

At the 18th Brics summit in India, President Cyril Ramaphosa discussed the role developing nations play in cross-border production networks. His remarks come as South Africa weighs whether expanded trade with the bloc has brought a more varied export mix. South Africa joined Brics in December 2010; its goods trade with other Brics+ economies rose from R567.1bn in 2010 to R1-trillion in 2025 in real terms, and the group accounted for 28.9% of its total trade in 2025. Yet iron ore, chromium ore, coal, manganese and diamonds still make up almost 58% of exports to those markets, and manufactured goods are 25.2% of that trade versus 51.4% of overall exports. South Africa's deficit with the group widened from R257.2bn in 2015 to R326.7bn in 2025; the analysis points to the makeup of that trade, rather than the gap by itself, as the deeper issue.