BEIJING, August 7. /TASS/. The volume of Chinese-Russian trade in January-July amounted to $136.67 billion, which is an increase of 1.6% year-on-year, the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC) reported.

According to GACC, in the reporting period, imports of goods from Russia increased by 3.9% to $75.03 billion. Exports from China to Russia, on the contrary, decreased by 1.1%, to $61.64 billion. The positive balance of Russia increased by 48% year-on-year to $13.39 billion.

According to the published data, in July, trade turnover between the two countries decreased by 2.7% compared to June, and amounted to $19.69 billion. However, Chinese exports demonstrated positive dynamics over the month, and increased by 1.1% (to $9.99 billion). Imports from Russia on a monthly basis, on the contrary, decreased by 6.3%, to $9.7 billion.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko said that the Russian authorities intend to work together with China to create the necessary conditions to satisfy the interests of business, "to engage the energy of entrepreneurs to maintain existing and open new trade channels." According to him, all competent departments of the economic bloc on both sides "are working to resolve bottlenecks in financial settlements, logistics and infrastructure, and individual sectors of the economy."

The bulk of goods imported by China from Russia are energy products - oil, natural gas and coal. Other key imports include copper and copper ore, timber, fuel and seafood. China exports a wide range of products to Russia - cars, tractors, computers, smartphones, industrial and specialized equipment, toys, shoes, air conditioners and computers.

In 2022, trade turnover between Russia and China increased by 29.3% to $190 billion. In 2023, it reached a record high of $240.11 billion, an increase of 26.3%. As Deputy Director of the Institute for Russian, East European & Central Asian Studies at Renmin University of China Liu Xu told TASS, there are sufficient opportunities to increase the volume of trade turnover to $250 billion this year.