Brazil and China Agree To Trade in Yuan

March 30, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Guo Tingting announced today that China and Brazil have concluded an agreement to trade in yuan. “An agreement on settling payments in yuan has been signed with Brazil, which greatly facilitates our trade. We are planning to expand cooperation in the field of food and mineral extraction, and to search for a possibility of exporting goods with high added value from China to Brazil and from Brazil to China,” Guo told the Brazil-China Business Seminar, in Beijing. 

The conference was organized by Brazilian Foreign Ministry and ApexBrasil and “attended by over 500 Brazilian and Chinese businessmen, aimed at strengthening and diversifying trade relations and investment flows,” according to a Foreign Ministry press release. ApexBrasil announced the signing of over 20 agreements, detailing that “Banco BOCOM BBM announces its adhesion to CIPS (China Interbank Payment System), which is the Chinese alternative to SWIFT. The expectation is to reduce the costs of commercial transactions with the direct exchange between BRL and RMB. The bank will be the first direct participant in this system in South America. The Brazilian branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Brazil) becomes the RMB clearing bank in Brazil. The easing of restrictions on the use of the RMB is aimed at further promoting bilateral trade and facilitating investments with the RMB.”

Sputnik reported that Brazil and China announced yesterday the establishment of a clearing house that would provide for settlements without using the U.S. dollar. It would also lend in national currencies, circumventing the dollar. Among other things, it would facilitate and reduce the cost of transactions.