General

On May 13, Gao Feng, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China, introduced at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Commerce that this year, China and Russia have worked together to overcome the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and promote bilateral trade to stop falling and rebound and return to positive growth. trail of.

In the first 4 months, the scale of Sino-Russian trade hit a record high over the same period in history

According to Chinese statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia from January to April was US$40.21 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.8%. For the first time in history, the volume of bilateral trade exceeded US$40 billion in the first four months. Compared with the same period in 2019, it has increased by 21.2%; compared with the same period in 2016 five years ago, it has doubled.

Imports have resumed growth since Russia. From January to April, China's imports increased by 7.7%, which is the first time since May 2020 to turn from negative to positive.

The structure of Sino-Russian trade has improved. In the first quarter of this year, the imports and exports of China and Russia's mechanical and electrical products and high-tech products both increased by more than 50%, far higher than the growth of bilateral trade in the same period.

At the same time, Chinese investment and contracted projects in Russia have continued to grow. In the first quarter, China's non-financial direct investment in Russia increased by 9% year-on-year, ranking fourth among my country's major economic and trade partners. The value of newly signed contracted projects was US$630 million, a year-on-year increase of 90.9%; the completed turnover was US$830 million, a year-on-year increase of 18.6%. Cooperation on major strategic projects in the fields of energy, nuclear energy, aerospace, and cross-border infrastructure has made solid progress, and new progress has been made in local cooperation and cooperation in scientific and technological innovation.

Gao Feng said that from the current situation, it is expected that Sino-Russian trade will continue to grow in 2021, and the annual trade scale is expected to reach a new high.

In addition, according to media reports, statistics show that the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia has exceeded 100 billion U.S. dollars for three consecutive years, and China has become Russia's largest trading partner for 11 consecutive years.

Three highlights of Sino-Russian trade

There are at least three bright spots in Sino-Russian trade: cross-border e-commerce, agricultural cooperation, and energy trade.

In terms of cross-border e-commerce, during the epidemic prevention and control period, there is a strong demand for online work, study, and entertainment, and the "home economy" has boosted the sales of Russian electronic products.

In 2020, Chinese-made smartphones will rank first in sales in the Russian market, and exports of other Chinese electronic products to Russia have also achieved rapid growth. The exports of notebook computers and tablet computers have increased by 39% and 29% respectively.

Semyonov, vice chairman of the Regional Cooperation Council of the Russia-China Friendship, Peace and Development Committee, said that under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the application of electronic and digital technologies in Russia has accelerated. "The demand for new tools and new platforms in Russian-Chinese trade is increasing. The rapid development of new business formats such as cross-border e-commerce will promote the continued growth of bilateral trade between Russia and China."

my country has established comprehensive pilot zones for cross-border e-commerce in Russia in cities such as Suifenhe and Heihe in Heilongjiang Province.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce of China, the trade volume of Sino-Russian agricultural products reached US$5.55 billion in 2020, a record high, of which China’s imports were US$4.09 billion, an increase of 13.7%, making it the largest export market for Russian agricultural products and meat.

According to surveys, Russian products that are popular with the Chinese include candy, sausage, meat, barley, wheat, vegetable oil, seafood...

Energy trade is also a very important bright spot. Sino-Russian bilateral trade can gradually pick up from the second half of 2020, and China's share of Russia's foreign trade has further increased, which is inseparable from the cooperation between the two countries in large-scale projects in the fields of energy, chemical and nuclear energy.

In addition, thanks to its geographical advantages, as a transportation corridor, Russia has become a transit point and transit point for many China-Europe trains. In 2020, the first "China-Europe Railway Express" station Berrelast Logistics Center, jointly constructed by China and Russia, will be put into operation in Moscow.

The Russian Railway Logistics Corporation announced that in 2020, the volume of container rail transit from China to the EU via Russia will increase by 55%.

With the upgrading of China-Russia economic and trade relations, pragmatic cooperation has continued to deepen. China and Russia have increasingly close cooperation in the development and production of new crown vaccines and drugs, as well as in new business fields such as artificial intelligence, cloud economy, Internet of Things, and big data.

★Tips★

There are many issues that need to be paid attention to when exporting to Russia. The following items are just some of the issues and are for reference only.

1. Customers must pay in time. Unless it is a long-term cooperation, it is recommended that customers make payment first! Or let the customer prepay more than 75% of the amount.

2. After the goods arrive at the port, there must be two reminders: one reminds the customer to pay; the second reminds the customer to pick up the goods. Otherwise, after the goods arrive at the port or station, if no one picks up the goods, the Russian customs will dispose of the goods! Or need to pay high fees! At the same time, customers may also engage in delivery of goods without B/L through the relationship.

3. It is necessary to pay attention to and find out the relevant requirements of the Russian customs in advance, and make full preparations.

4. In order to reduce the import tax, the customer may adopt the form of low customs declaration, and the seller needs to find a solution by himself.

5. Be sure to remember that whether it is prepayment, delivery, or final payment, you must promptly dunning.