Sanctions on Russia open new market for Chinese farmers

It is reported by Russian media that China and Russia have reached an agreement that China will start selling fruits and vegetables directly to Russia through a special logistic center near the border of Russia's Far East. This serves as a helping hand to Russia which just banned food imports from the EU and the US. It also opens a new market for China's agricultural products.

Russia has been the EU's biggest market for vegetable exports and the second biggest for food. After Russia developed counter-sanctions on the EU and the US, the market blank needs to be filled in as soon as possible.

China is Russia's biggest neighbor, and it will be of great significance if the two can cooperate strategically in the complex international environment. Russian society has been looking forward to importing agricultural products from China.

Due to its limited climate and geography, Russia has to import livestock products, vegetables, fruits and nuts every year. And China is a leading agricultural producer. Over the past decade, trade of agricultural products between China and Russia has been steady, and there is huge potential for major improvement.

How to predict and seize this fleeting market opportunity in the complicated international situation and make a swift and correct judgment? Making the right judgment is key to raising our market competitiveness, and it is basic requirement under the global trajectory.

The current opportunities for trade cooperation between China and Russia exclude rivals such as the EU, the US, Canada and Australia. Both have geographic advantages but they also need to boost strategic cooperation.

Authorities, academia and the media should play a positive role in helping some enterprises seize this opportunity. Meanwhile, Chinese enterprises should be more aware that the quality of goods and their reputation matter. Quality-inspection authorities should assume their proper role to avoid the bad impact caused by low-quality products in the past.

Besides, trade of agricultural products between the two countries should be under the framework of the WTO to eradicate the role of the "gray market" in circumventing proper customs procedures.

The sanctions by the West against Russia and Russia's counter sanctions are an inevitable result of the disputes and rivalries among world powers. The halt of trading on some agricultural products is part of the proof. China has gained new trading opportunities, but has also witnessed the cruelty of regional conflicts leading to trade predicaments.