The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Photo: VCG

Bilateral trade between China and Russia has returned to positive growth, Gao Feng, spokesperson of Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday.

Bilateral trade between China and Russia from January to April reached $40.21 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 percent, for the first time in history exceeding $40 billion over the first four months of a year. 

The figure records an increase of 21.2 percent compared with the same period in 2019, the spokesperson said.

From January to April, China's imports from Russia increased 7.7 percent, the first time since May last year that it turned from negative to positive, providing important support for the growth of the bilateral trade, Gao added. 

The trade structure has also improved. In the first quarter of this year, the import and export growth rates of Chinese and Russian mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products both exceeded 50 percent, which was much higher than the growth rate of bilateral trade in the same period, data from MOFCOM showed. 

At the same time, Chinese investment and contracted investment projects in Russia have continued to grow. In the first quarter of this year, China's non-financial direct investment in Russia rose 9 percent year-on-year, according to MOFCOM.