China Russia Photo: VCG

China's trade with Russia in the first seven months of 2022 rose 29 percent year-on-year to $97.71 billion, accelerating 1.8 percentage points from first half of the year, as the two countries maintain normal cooperation despite US-led Western sanctions.

Experts expect that China-Russia trade could surpass last year's levels as Russia accelerates the shift of its economic pivot to Asia amid escalating sanctions from the West and both sides aim to expand their economic and trade cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit.

According to data released by China's General Administration of Customs on Sunday, China-Russia bilateral trade stood at $97.71 billion in the first seven months, up 29 percent on a yearly basis. The growth rate accelerated from 27.2 percent seen in the first half of the year.

Statistics show that in July, the trade volume between China and Russia came in at $16.79 billion. Among them, China's exports to Russia amounted to $6.77 billion, while China's imports from Russia amounted to $10.01 billion, both expanding from June.

China's exports to Russia expanded 5.2 percent to $36.27 billion, widening from the 2.1 percent during the January-June period. China's imports from Russia grew 48.8 percent from a year earlier to $61.44 billion in the first seven months.

The growth of the China-Russia trade comes as a result of a highly complementary economies between the two countries, Song Kui, president of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that escalating sanctions from the West also pushed Russia to expand its export to China.

"It is expected that the foreign trade between China and Russia this year would surpass the level of 2021 when the bilateral trade stood at $146.87 billion, a record high," Song said.

China's imports of mineral fuels, oil and asphalt products from Russia reached 247 billion yuan ($36.53 billion) in the first six months, while China's exports of mechanical and electrical products to Russia reached 77 billion yuan, according to customs data.

In addition to energy cooperation, in recently years, China-Russia trade has been expanding to food and agriculture, new-energy vehicles and other fields, Song said.

"The pursuing of local currency settlements in trade between China and Russia also provides more convenience for traders between the two countries to stabilize foreign trade and avoid US dollar hegemony," Song said.

Wang Wentao, China's Commerce Minister said during a virtual meeting with Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov that since the beginning of the year, China-Russia trade has maintained strong growth momentum.

The two sides should continue consolidate trade in key commodities while tap into new growth areas such as digital economy, green development, cross-border e-commerce and trade in services, and push for steady growth of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation, Wang said.

Global Times