Sino-Russian trade rises by 43pc from Jan-Oct

TRADE between China and Russia is expected to be in the range of US$55 billion to $57 billion by the end of the year, according to a Russian trade official.

Sino-Russian trade rose by 43.4 per cent in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period in 2009 to $45.1 billion, reports China Daily.

It cited Russian government figures as showing that China's exports to Russia increased by 72.6 per cent year on year to $23.8 billion, while the country's imports rose by 20.6 per cent to $21.3 billion.

The surge in Russian exports to China was primarily attributed to China's booming economy and growing demand for Russia's industrial and natural resource products, according to Sergey Tsyplakov, trade representative of the Russian Federation in China.

On the other hand, as Russia's economic recovery is still underway, China's exports did not pick up until the second quarter of this year, and are slightly below the pre-crisis level, Mr Tsyplakov was cited as saying.

The report said that among the growth areas were China's exports of machinery and electronic products that doubled year on year during the 10-month period, accounting for 38 per cent of its total export volume.

Trade in crude oil and natural-resource products accounted for 48.5 per cent of the overall bilateral trade volume.

"Cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector has achieved remarkable progress this year, and will become the major engine for bilateral trade development in the future," added Mr Tsyplakov.
(Source:www.schednet.com)