BEIJING, August 5. /TASS/. Agricultural products and food products are one of the essential elements of the growth of Russian exports to China, Russia’s trade representative in China Alexey Dakhnovsky told reporters about this on Friday.
"Agricultural goods and food items are, of course, one of the primary sources of growth in our exports to China: growth amounted to over 23% in the first half of the year, according to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China," Dakhnovsky said. "Of course, China is interested in the delivery of a wide range of Russian products, both agricultural and fertilizers; they have spoken about this more than once," he said, noting that the supply of fertilizers to China in the first half of the year increased by 70%.
"We have objective challenges associated with sanctions. They do not, however, imply that someone refused to purchase Russian goods. There are no direct sanctions on Russian food supplies, but there are indirect restrictions related to transport employees refusing to enter Russian ports, ship and cargo insurance issues," the trade representative explained.
Dakhnovsky added that Russian imports from China, after the transition to new conditions and adaptation to the break in the old supply chains, may increase significantly this year. "The figures are generally good, a record for the second year in a row," he said, responding to a request from journalists to comment on the volume of bilateral trade in the first half of the year. According to him, the trade turnover increased by 27.2% over the six months.
"We have a significant trade surplus with China, we see that Russian exports to China grew by more than 48%, and Chinese supplies to Russia - by 2% or more," he continued. According to him, this was "caused by a sharp rise in prices for exchange commodities: energy resources, metals - the base of Russian exports."
He added that the volume of bilateral trade between Russia and China may reach $185-190 bln at the end of 2022. "As for forecasts, this is a thankless task, especially in the current situation, there are so many variables that may change in any direction," he said in response to a question about when Russia and China will be able to accomplish their $200 bln bilateral trade target. "I believe that this year we will reach $185-190 bln, and the figure could be higher next year," Dakhnovsky said.
The authorities of Russia and China have set the goal of bringing the volume of bilateral trade up to $200 bln a year. In June of this year, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said that the annual trade turnover between Russia and China could reach $200 bln ahead of schedule, by the end of 2022.
At the end of 2021, the volume of bilateral trade increased by 35.8% to $146.88 bln.