China, Russia bilateral trade poised for steady growth

Bilateral trade between China and Russia will see growth this year, despite a marginal decline last year, due to the strong synergy and solid fundamentals of the two sides, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

Gao Feng, a spokesman for the ministry, said that the two countries will jointly address COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges, while actively expanding bilateral trade and promoting new business forms and new models such as cross-border e-commerce.

The two sides will also expand two-way investment and strategic large-scale project cooperation. In addition, they will also deepen ties among local governments, make good use of various exhibition platforms, strengthen industrial park cooperation as well as optimize institutional arrangements to boost business environment.

"China believes that bilateral trade between the two countries will recover, as economic and trade cooperation becomes more stable and productive due to joint efforts from both sides," Gao said.

Data from the ministry showed that bilateral goods trade between the two nations stood at $107.77 billion last year, exceeding the $100 billion mark for three years in a row, but down 2.9 percent on a yearly basis.

China was Russia's largest trading partner for the 11th consecutive year in 2020, while the latter was the former's 10th largest trading partner. Bilateral trade showed healthy recovery momentum during the second half with China's exports to Russia posting an average monthly increase of more than 7 percent.

China's imports of bulk commodities such as oil, gas and iron ore from Russia increased significantly last year, while it became the largest market for Russian agricultural products and meat. Agricultural products trade between China and Russia rose to $5.55 billion last year, a record, of which China's imports made up $4.09 billion, up 13.7 percent on a yearly basis.

Zhang Jianping, director-general of the Beijing-based China Center for Regional Economic Cooperation, said bilateral economic and trade prospects remained bright due to the strong synergy in exports and imports.

Russia is known for its natural resources such as oil and natural gas, and China needs the same to meet its energy requirements. Consumer goods China is good at producing, such as computers, are required by Russia, while agricultural products produced by the latter are required by China, he said.