BEIJING, February 8. /TASS/. The volatility in oil prices and the weakening of the Russian national currency have enabled Russia to expand its exports to the People’s Republic of China and diversify them, Russia’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China Andrei Denisov said.
"The (oil - TASS) price plunge and the ruble’s devaluation opened up new potential for our goods on the Chinese market. We (Russia) found ourselves able to meet competition on a whole range of items even compared with Chinese goods," he said, adding that the annual growth of Russian supplies of machinery and equipment to Chine surged 35%.
According to the ambassador, Russia has "retained its niches on the Chinese market, expanded them, found new ones and is well-placed for a sustained trade expansion via big contracts and investment cooperation, despite the recent disturbance on the currency market and falling prices."
Denisov said that the mutual trade turnover between Russia and China exceeded $69 bln in 2016, a 2.2% increase compared with 2015, which is "not that much, but is still something bigger than a statistical discrepancy" and should be used as a basis for going ahead.