Russia-China Trade Booming

By Staff, Agencies

Trade between Russia and China has continued to accelerate after hitting historic highs in 2022, with exports and imports surging at double-digit pace since the beginning of this year, data released on Tuesday by the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed.

According to the agency, bilateral trade surged by 36.5% in January-July compared with a year ago, reaching $134.1 billion. During the reporting period, Chinese exports to Russia jumped 73.4% compared to last year, hitting $62.5 billion. The Asian economic giant’s imports from Russia increased 15.1% to $72 billion.

In July alone, trade turnover between the two countries reached $19.4 billion, with Chinese exports at $10.2 billion, slightly outpacing deliveries from Russia, which stood at $9.2 billion.

As of the end of 2022, trade between Russia and China had grown by 29.3% in annual terms to a record $190.3 billion. It is on course to surpass a target of $200 billion this year, and both nations have insisted that a landmark of $250 billion a year is “absolutely realistic.”

Russia-China economic ties have been bolstered by the mutual decision to conduct the majority of transactions in the nations’ own currencies instead of the US dollar. Moscow and Beijing have both stepped up efforts to reduce dependence on the dollar and euro in international trade, against the backdrop of sanctions imposed on Russia and the ongoing US trade war with China.