This study explores the similarities of trade integrations in the BRICS member countries. Using time series data from 2001 to 2015 and employing the Panel-Gravity trade model approach, we utilized the separate disaggregated trade data of manufactured goods and raw materials of each BRICS member with United Nations-defined regional groups: the African group, the Asia Pacific group, the Eastern European group, the Latin American and Caribbean group, and the Western European. The analysis results revealed that Russia's manufactured goods and raw material trade integration based on the Heckscher-Ohlin framework with these five regional groups is not similar to that of other BRICS members following the Linder hypothesis. Furthermore, the dominance of China in total trade flows of BRICS has made the Chinese Yuan's effects on trade with partners from different groups stronger than other BRICS members' national currencies impacts. Geographical distance as a proxy for transportation cost has a weaker negative effect on the manufactured goods and raw materials trade patterns of China and India than it does on other countries, creating dissimilarity in the trade patterns of BRICS countries.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare the similarities in the foreign trade patterns of China and the other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) members. Design/methodology/approach Three panel data estimations, namely, fixed effect, random effect and fully modified ordinary least squares, have been conducted in this paper based on the gravitational model of international trade for bilateral trade of each BRICS member with five United Nations (UN) regional groups from 2001 to 2015. Findings The results revealed that Russia has a dissimilar trade pattern, based on the Heckscher–Ohlin (H-O) framework, with these five regional groups, while the other BRICS members follow the Linder hypothesis. Furthermore, it was found that China has a faster pace of globalization, while the rest of the BRICS members have experienced regionalization rather than globalization. In addition, geographical distance, as a proxy for transportation cost, has a weaker negative effect on the trade patterns of China and India, which makes the trade patterns of BRICS members dissimilar. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first attempt to examine and compare the BRICS member countries’ foreign trade pattern through a gravity trade approach.

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