The goal of increasing trade between Russia and China to 200 billion US dollars will be accomplished by 2024

The Russian Export Center (REC) considers it feasible to increase the trade turnover between the Russian Federation and China to $200 billion by 2024. Veronika Nikishina, General Director of the REC, announced this at the International Chinese Import Exhibition of Goods and Services in digital format.

«The goal set by the leaders of our countries — to reach the $200 billion mark by 2024 — will be accomplished. The prospects are excellent, and this is clearly seen in the example of exports during the pandemic time in several industries at once,» she said.

According to Nikishina, in particular, there are several confident leaders in the agro-industrial sector. For example, meat and offal supplies from Russia to China in 2020 increased nine fold, soybean oil — five fold and sunflower oil — two fold. In addition, Russia began to supply China with beef this year.

«Of the goods that Russia traditionally supplies to China, vegetable oils, flour, confectionery, chocolate, juices and others are in great demand,» the Head of the REC said and added that in general, the volume of agricultural exports from Russia to China for eight months of 2020 grew by almost 30%, continuing the established trend of the last five years.


Nikishina also mentioned new products that became featuring in export deliveries — for example, various types of steel and copper wire. «Our products have two unconditional competitive advantages which we are going to develop further. First advantage is natural ingredients. In Russia, the use of genetically modified technologies is legally restricted, so Chinese consumers clearly know that they have found products that are environmentally friendly and safe,» Nikishina said.

She also mentioned the common border with China and the actively developing logistics system as the second competitive advantage of domestic goods. According to Nikishina, further development of infrastructure in the Russian Far East will increase trade turnover between China and Russia. To improve the convenience of transportation, the countries are creating cross-border economic cooperation zones and both countries are interested in removing technical barriers and various restrictions, the Head of the REC emphasized.

«We are already negotiating to lift restrictions on trade in peas, beans, millet, rye flour and semolina. In addition, this list includes animal feed, as well as crude medicine,» Nikishina said. According to her estimates, in the future, Russian pork should take a prominent place in the Chinese market. «Our entrepreneurs can supply the Chinese market with up to 300-350 thousand tons of pork annually, negotiations on this matter between our countries are already underway,» the Head of the REC said.

Various sales channels
According to Nikishina, the growth of trade turnover between Russia and China is facilitated by the synergy of offline and online promotion. So, just a year ago, a national store of Russian food products was opened on the Chinese website Tmall. According to the Head of the REC, this year the store has sold goods for more than 200 million rubles. 82 Russian manufacturers have entered the Chinese market through this platform.

In addition, there is a tasting pavilion with Russian food in Shanghai. «This pavilion is permanent, and is already presenting products of 35 Russian companies: these are large companies, medium-sized ones, and small businesses. The pavilion is located in the largest shopping center, where more than 50 pavilions from around the world are represented,» Nikishina said. She recalled that the third Chinese International Exhibition of Imported Goods and Services opened on the territory of this center two days ago.

«Such concentration of goods in one place allows Chinese purchasers, both wholesale and retail, to get the most clear picture of the entire range offered by global manufacturers to the Chinese market,» Nikishina believes. According to her, through the pavilion one can buy any quantity of the products — from wholesale batch to a single sample.


The REC also pays great attention to online sales. «We are certain that digitalization will provide maximum coverage of China’s business environment in all its sectors: agricultural products, food products, industrial products, and engineering products,» the Head of the REC said. At the same time, she noted that one of the trade hindering factors is the insufficient amount of information from Chinese consumers about Russian products.

Among other difficulties, she named still complicated and expensive logistics and remoteness of the European part of Russia, where the main production is located, that leads to a rise in the cost of products. Nikishina explained that in order to solve this problem, the REC, together with the «Russian Railways», is implementing a project for organization of specialized logistics service, «Agroexpress», which will significantly speed up the supply of Russian products to China.

As Alexey Gruzdev, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, has noted, over the eight months of 2020, the mutual trade turnover between Russia and China decreased by 7% and amounted to $65 billion. «In the meantime, according to the data provided by the General Customs Administration of the People’s Republic of China — nine months decrease amounted to just 2%,» he said. Gruzdev specified that the cost regime decrease occured mainly due to a 20% reduction in the price of Russian energy resources supplied to China. Supplies of agricultural products increased by 28%, when supplies of metals — by 53%, he added.
Source: tass.ru
Image source: photogenica.ru