BEIJING, May 12. /TASS/. The creation of the Russia-China New Land Grain Corridor in accordance with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree will enable Moscow to substantially boost supplies of corresponding agriculture products to China considering the huge cooperation potential between the two countries in the area of agriculture, according to Zhang Hong, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"As for the land corridor, trains running through ports such as Manzhouli and Suifenhe could transport grain [from Russia]," he told the Global Times newspaper. "There is great potential for bilateral cooperation in this regard given growing Chinese demand for quality agricultural products," the expert added.
The total trade volume for agricultural products between the two countries "is not very big" now, he told the paper, noting that Russia may increase exports to China of wheat and barley, two kinds of agricultural products in which Russia has advantages both in price and quality.
China has basically achieved self-sufficiency in food, and imports only a small amount of wheat, the expert pointed out. Meanwhile, in order to better ensure grain security and diversify grain imports, China relaxed restrictions on imports of Russian wheat in 2022, Zhang said.
Chairman of Liangtai Agriculture Zhao Xiangyu believes that the land corridor for grain transport will boost throughput and add an additional transport route for Russian grain exports to China. Most of the grain exports are shipped to China from the Black Sea, he told the Global Times.
Earlier, Putin requested drafting an intergovernmental agreement on the creation of the Russia-China New Land Grain Corridor to increase grain production in the Far Eastern, Urals and Siberian federal districts, as well as the volume of its export to the People's Republic of China.