Sino Russian Exports Of Textile Products Showed A Steady Upward Trend.

In recent years, what is the development trend of bilateral trade between China and Russia? Whether the trade structure between China and Russia tends to complement each other, and the two countries have decided to increase the volume of trade to 60 billion to 80 billion dollars by 2010. What are the policy recommendations of the experts? The reporter interviewed Long Guoqiang, Vice Minister of Foreign Economic Research of the State Council Development Research Center.

Reporter: please talk about the development trend of Sino Russian bilateral trade in recent years.

Long Guoqiang: the total volume of Sino Russian trade began to expand steadily in 2000.

Since 1990s, the development of bilateral trade between China and Russia has been clearly divided into two stages.

The period from 1992 to 1999 is the first stage. During this period, the development of bilateral trade is very unstable and volatile.

The volume of bilateral trade between China and Russia has been hovering between 5 billion and 7 billion US dollars.

From 2000 to date, it is the second stage of Sino Russian bilateral trade development.

During this period, China's imports and exports to Russia grew steadily and rapidly. By 2004, the total import and export volume had exceeded 20 billion US dollars, and the average growth rate in the 5 years was thirty percent, which is nearly 4 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of China's foreign trade in the same period.

Reporter: please explain the complementarity of the two economies from the bilateral trade structure between China and Russia.

Long Guoqiang: the bilateral trade structure between China and Russia shows that the two economies are complementary.

Judging from the statistics in 2004, light textile products are the main products of China's exports to Russia. Fur and its products, leather goods and travel bags, clothing, textiles, footwear and other products account for fifty-eight percent of China's total exports to Russia.

At the same time, mechanical and electronic products also play an important role in China's export to Russia.

In terms of imports, fossil fuels (mainly oil and their products) are the first category of products imported from Russia, accounting for thirty-five percent of the total in 2004.

Next, timber, wood pulp and paper accounted for second and seventh of China's imports from Russia, accounting for fifteen percent of total imports.

The 3 kinds of products, such as iron and steel, chemical fertilizer and fish, are also very prominent.

Computers from China also show strong competitiveness in the Russian market.

According to Russian customs statistics, forty percent of Russian automatic data processing equipment and components (HS8471) imported in 2004 came from China.

On the whole, China's exports to Russia are mainly light industrial and textile products, and machinery and electronic products also occupy a large proportion. Imports from Russia are concentrated on resource products, showing strong complementarity between the two countries' economic structure.

Over the past 10 years, China's import structure has also undergone some changes, mainly due to the increase in the import of fossil fuels, timber and fish, and the decline in the import of steel, fertilizer, aluminum and machinery and equipment. However, Russia's exports to China have not changed the situation of resource products as the main body.

The import share of oil and its products increased from five percent to thirty-five percent, which is undoubtedly the most significant change in China's import structure to Russia over the past 10 years.

Reporter: what are your policy recommendations to achieve the goal of increasing trade volume to 60 billion to 80 billion US dollars by 2010?

Long Guoqiang: Russia China Economic and trade cooperation is at a fairly high level now.

The volume of trade between the two countries increased rapidly, exceeding 29 billion US dollars in 2005.

According to the current growth rate, the two countries' goal of increasing trade volume to 60 billion to 80 billion US dollars by 2010 can be achieved.

Sino Russian bilateral trade has been expanding since 2000. The export structure of China to Russia has significantly upgraded, and the proportion of consumer electronics exports has been increasing. Imports have always been dominated by petroleum, timber and other resource products.

In the future, we should further expand our trade with Russia, pay attention to brand building and upgrade product grades, and promote the standardization of light textile products trade, and strive to enter the mainstream sales channels of Russia. We should establish a win-win concept in importing, and encourage our forestry enterprises to go deep into wood processing in Russia.

First of all, we must attach great importance to brand building.

At present, I have a good export situation to Russia, the proportion of consumer electronics has been increasing, and the traditional textile products are also growing. However, the lack of private brand is still the biggest resistance for Chinese products to enter the Russian high-end market.

With the recovery of Russian economy and the gradual maturity of the market, the demand for low-grade products is gradually shrinking.

Only by strengthening the building of our own brand and improving the market image of our products can we ensure the sustained and rapid growth of our exports to Russia.

Secondly, to expand Sino Russian forestry cooperation, we must have a win-win concept.

To protect forest resources and ensure sustainable export growth, the Russian government has imposed tariffs and excise taxes on timber exports.

In line with the principle of win win, we should actively promote our forestry enterprises to invest in Russia, carry out wood processing activities in Russia, increase the added value of timber exported from Russia, and create jobs and taxes for the locals.

Third, we should actively promote the standardization of Russian light textile products trade.

In the long run, it will enhance the predictability of such products to Russian trade and contribute to sustained and steady growth of exports.