Farmers drive tractors to plant corns in the field in Shuangcheng District of Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, April 20, 2020. Spring sowing in Heilongjiang Province has started recently. (Xinhua/Wang Song)

Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, which borders Russia, posted a 3 percent rise in foreign trade with Russia in the first quarter despite downward fears amid COVID-19, while its soybean imports from the US have recovered to pre-trade war levels, the latest official data shows.

The province's Russian imports and exports reached 31.65 billion yuan ($4.48 billion), accounting for 70 percent of the its total foreign trade, domestic news site chinanews.com reported, citing Harbin customs data.

The province's exports to Russia fell 6.7 percent to 1.65 billion yuan, and imports rose 3.6 percent to 30 billion yuan.

Mutual political trust between China and Russia, convenient transport and complementary industries were the main contributors to the growth amid the global pandemic, the report revealed.

It's worth noting that Heilongjiang's soybean imports from the US posted remarkable growth in the quarter with a volume of 277,000 tons, marking a return to levels prior to the China-US trade war.

China exempted some US soybeans and pork products from additional tariffs near the end of 2019.