SHANGHAI, November 7. /TASS/. Russia’s non-resources supplies to China in 2023 grew at a faster rate than the overall average for all Russian exports to that country, Alexey Dakhnovsky, trade representative of the Russian Federation in China, told TASS.

"The total volume of trade turnover over the nine months has increased by almost 30%. Of course, we now see that purchases from China have increased sharply. The growth of our imports has exceeded 50%. Our exports have seen a more modest growth, but it is still about 12-13%. And we can say that non-oil and gas exports have grown more than the whole export in average," he said while visiting the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which is underway in Shanghai.

According to the trade representative, there are positions for which triple-digit growth rates have been recorded.

"For example, for organic chemical products, there was a twofold increase in exports to China in nine months. For aluminum and products made from it, there was also a twofold increase. Rubber products, cellulose, complex fertilizers are performing well, with an increase of about 20-25%. So, in order to reach this 12-13% growth in exports, it was necessary to show large figures for non-raw material and non-energy exports, as well," he said.

As Dakhnovsky stated, this year there has been an increase in the export of Russian mechanical engineering products to China.

"We see that there are niches, including for machinery," he said, adding that the export of such equipment also shows about 30% growth, and for certain items it has more than doubled.

The trade representative noted the presence of opportunities in the high-tech sector, including software and other products related to digital technologies, since even China with its high technologies has requests in this area.

"The task is to diversify our exports by including products with higher added value," he said.