Sinopec employees work on a gas storage facility in Puyang county, Henan province. [Photo by Hu Qingming/For China Daily]

The trade delegation of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec and the world's largest refiner by volume, signed agreements with Apex-Brasil to purchase oil products, chemical products, electromechanical equipment, coal and other materials, the company announced on Thursday.

The contract's value was $45.6 billion, Sinopec reported during the ongoing China International Import Expo held in Shanghai.

Epec.com, Sinopec's e-commerce platform for industrial products, held a signing ceremony for a memorandum of strategic cooperation with Apex-Brasil.

The two parties agreed to establish a cooperative partnership and jointly promote quality products and services in Brazil and expand business opportunities of Brazilian enterprises in China, utilizing Epec as a platform.

The signing ceremony is conducive to expanding business opportunities in trade integration between the two countries, realizing BRICS cooperation and promoting pragmatic development.

Epec launched its global website on April 18, 2017, and Russian and Spanish versions went online on March 16, 2018.

The total amount of orders placed on the Epec global website reached $9.5 billion at present. There are over 1,100 listed suppliers on the site with a total of 8,800 product categories, covering a wide range including raw materials, equipment and chemical products.

Committed to promoting trade in BRICS countries, Epec was endorsed as the e-commerce platform of industrial products for BRICS countries by the BRICS Business Council last June.

Through the creation of the "BRICS Pavilion", it helps promote high quality products manufactured in BRICS countries. Trade volume related to BRICS countries is $870 million at present.