Positive outlook as consumer demand improves
Small home appliance exports from China to Russia via Dongning, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, jumped 258 percent year-on-year to 511 million yuan ($74 million) during the first four months of the year, domestic media outlet China News Service reported Saturday.
Dongning is China's major port to Vladivostok, the largest port city in the Russian Far East, and the activity illustrates the recent boom in trade between China and Russia.
Russian consumers' demand is rising, particularly for small home appliances, clothing and daily necessities, Zhang Qingbin, a customs official in Dongning, was quoted by the China News Service as saying.
During the first four months of 2017, total trade reached 170 billion yuan, up 33.7 percent from a year earlier, statistics from China's General Administration of Customs showed.
China's exports to Russia rose 29.4 percent to 80 billion yuan, while imports from Russia grew 37.7 percent to 90 billion yuan.
Experts attributed the increase in exports partially to growing Russian consumer demand amid a recovering economy.
The outlook for Russian's economy, which heavily relies on oil and gas exports, is positive because of higher oil prices, Wang Jun, deputy director of the Department of Information at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times Sunday.
The International Energy Agency has forecast that there will be global oil shortages and sharp price hikes by 2020.
The Russian economy is recovering, according to an IMF report released Friday. The IMF forecast that Russia's GDP will grow 1.4 percent in 2017 after two years of recession. Last year, Russian GDP contracted by 0.2 percent, Reuters reported.
Wang expressed concerns about Russia's economy, saying that the Russia-US relationship is full of uncertainty. U.S. President Donald Trump has been recently accused by some U.S. officials of divulging classified information to Russian officials.
But Song Kui, president of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute in Heilongjiang, said that the Sino-Russian trade will continue flourishing in many aspects that go beyond daily necessities.
"Russia's imports of machinery from China, for instance, will get a boost as China and Russia are deepening cooperation in areas such as infrastructure construction and oil production under the Belt and Road initiative," Song said.
China's imports from Russia are also becoming more diversified. Besides traditional demand for timber and energy, Song added that agricultural goods from Russia are becoming more popular in China.
