Data released by the General Administration of Customs of China show that from January to April 2024, China-Russia trade volume was US$76.581 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. Among them, China imported US$43.847 billion from Russia, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%; China exported US$32.734 billion to Russia, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9%. Therefore, Russia's trade surplus is about US$11.1 billion.
Overall, in 2023, China-Russia bilateral trade volume reached US$240.1 billion. The trade volume in 2022 was more than US$190 billion. But this has not yet reached its limit. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov said last year that by 2030, this figure is expected to reach US$300 billion.
At the same time, the proportion of China-Russia trade settled in local currency has increased to 92%.
According to the report, Georgy Ostapkovich, an expert at the Institute of Statistical Research and Knowledge Economy of the Russian Higher School of Economics, said: "China is a non-competitive economic partner of Russia. China's share in our foreign trade has reached 35%, while just two or three years ago, its share was only 15%. And this proportion continues to rise."
Ekaterina Zaklyazminskaya, an expert at the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, added: "According to statistics, about one-third of Russia's imports come from China. Our country is one of China's top five trading partners."
The report said that in 2023, Russia's main imports from China include automobiles and their parts, machinery and equipment, smartphones, computers, clothing and footwear. Russia exports crude oil, natural gas, coal, copper, timber and seafood to China.
Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Russian National Energy Security Foundation, said: "In terms of pipeline oil, China maintains a leading position, with an annual oil transportation volume of 30 million tons through the Skovorodino-Daqing pipeline. In addition, about 10 million tons of crude oil are transported to China via Kazakhstan each year. In addition, oil shipped to China by sea is also increasing." According to statistics, China imported 107 million tons of crude oil from Russia in 2023 (an increase of 24% year-on-year) and 8 million tons of liquefied natural gas (an increase of 23% year-on-year). In the same year, Russia supplied China with 22.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas through gas pipelines (mainly the "Power of Siberia" pipeline), which is about 1.5 times that of 2022.
