Economic and trade ties between China and Brazil have got a big boost in this year's first four months despite a recession in the world's economy.

As two emerging economies, China and Brazil have different degrees of foreign trade dependence for their economic development, with the ratio of foreign trade to the gross domestic product being 66 percent and 20 percent respectively in the two countries.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (4th R) and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (4th L) attend a seminar on the new opportunities of the China-Brazil strategic partnership, in Beijing, capital of China, on May 19, 2009. A seminar on the new opportunities of the China-Brazil strategic partnership was held in Beijing on May 19. [Xinhua]

Nevertheless, the ongoing global financial crisis has inflicted enormous pressures on the exports and imports of both countries. According to the General Administration of Customs statistics, the total volume of China's import and export in the first four months was $599.4 billion, a 24.3 percent decrease from a year earlier. Among the trade value, export was US$337.4 billion and import US$261.986 billion, down 20.5 percent and 28.7 percent respectively from the same period last year.

Statistics from Brazil also indicate that the trade volume of the largest South American economy declined by 19.5 percent from the previous year to US$80.276 billion. Out of that, the country's exports were US$43.499 billion and imports US$36.777 billion, decreasing by 16.5 percent and 22.8 percent respectively.

Compared with cold winter their foreign trade has encountered, Sino-Brazilian economic and trade ties have experienced a warm current in the same period. According to Brazil's industrial and foreign trade authorities, the country's export to China in March was US$1.737 billion, a 134.6 percent leap from a year earlier. That makes the Asian nation transcend the United States and become Brazil's largest export market. Brazil's exports to the US in March were US$1.270 billion. The value of China-Brazil trade increased to US$3.2 billion in April, more than Brazil's trade of US$2.8 billion with the US.

Owing to a tangible increase in its export to China, Brazil also witnessed a first-ever trade surplus in March. The booming trade ties between the two countries are rooted in the well-performing bilateral relationship of recent years.

Since 2002, bilateral economic and trade ties have witnessed sustained improvement, with the trade volume reaching US$48.497 billion last year, 12 times that of 2002 at US$4.074 billion. In the previous four months, this year, trade volume between China and Brazil increased to US$10.2 billion, a 13.9 percent growth from a year earlier. Trade with China in Brazil's foreign trade year on year has increased from 3.78 percent in 2002 to the current 12.7 percent.

Such a good bilateral trade performance has benefited a lot from the great importance the two countries have attached to ties with each other. China's importance to Brazil has increased on a daily basis, and so has Brazil's to China.