According to the latest data released by the Russian Federal Customs Service quoted by the Russian Satellite News Agency on November 11, in the first nine months of this year, the total trade volume between China and Russia increased significantly to 32% year-on-year, reaching 98.938 billion US dollars. During this period, China's share of Russia's total foreign trade was 17.8%, and Russia's total imports from the Chinese market increased by 29.3% to 50.532 billion US dollars.
Chinese vegetables will be transported by freight train to Primorsky Krai, Russia
According to the Russian "Businessman" reported a week ago, at present, Young consumers in Russia prefer cross-border e-commerce shopping, so that they can buy various supplies such as Chinese manufacturing without leaving home, according to the data cited by the Russian media, on the eve of the launch of the Double Eleven event, 10.5 million Russians put Chinese-made goods into the shopping cart on China's e-commerce website, including daily necessities, smart phones, clothing and toys.
In this regard, the Russian Satellite News Agency recently quoted the moscow Ministry of Investment and Industrial Policy released a message that in order to consolidate the operation of the Chinese market, Russian companies are undergoing digital transformation of business, as one of the most effective means of sales.
The analysis believes that Chinese consumers' demand for Russia's green and nutritious food will be increasing, and at the same time, Russian institutions are attracting Chinese investors to participate in the agricultural field in recent years.
Chinese likes Russian agricultural products
In this regard, the Russian Far East Investment and Export Support Agency earlier said that it is willing to provide China with 1 million hectares of land for agricultural projects, and data show that in the first seven months of this year, China's investment in Russia's entire industry reached 200 million US dollars, an increase of 33% year-on-year. The new development is that, according to Russian media two weeks ago, the Russian Far East will cooperate with Chinese investors in soybean processing projects, which require 500,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Far Eastern Federal District.
According to data released by the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Group in early November, as of October 20, 13 Chinese companies have settled in the Russian Far East as of October 20, and the Russian Foreign Trade Economic Bank is currently considering 20 Projects in the Far East and the Arctic, with a total financing scale of 24.6 billion US dollars (1.8 trillion rubles).
At the same time, according to the information office of the Russian State Technology Group two weeks ago, the group will also modernize the three road ports on the border between China, Russia and Mongolia in order to improve the capacity of traffic and reduce logistics costs, which will become more important for Mongolia, which is highly dependent on resource exports, because the activation of the China-Russia-Mongolia Economic Corridor will become a transportation hub between large markets in the Asia-Pacific region for Mongolia without access to the sea.
According to official data released by Mongolian officials in November, due to the impact of the continued spread of the new crown virus and supply chain shortages, the country's fiscal revenue fell by 13%, and the total economic volume in 2020 continued to drop to 13.1 billion US dollars, even exceeding the level of the 2008 financial crisis, which reminds people of Mongolia in 2014, which made Mongolia into debt, and many Mongolian people have donated their horses, sheep, gold, jewelry and other items to help pay off debts.
At present, Mongolia's external debt is still at a high level, which may begin to become difficult to pay interest on debt after the decline in fiscal revenues, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Mongolia, as of July, the country's total external debt increased by another 10.3 billion US dollars, an increase of 13.2%, while as of September, the country's foreign reserves were only 4.3 billion US dollars.
It is in the context of these markets and economies that the analysis believes that increasing the convergence to the Chinese market is becoming a new driving force for Mongolia's economic recovery, at present, Mongolia has joined the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, the trade between Chinese and Mongolian enterprises has also announced new tax reduction measures, and China is also vigorously driving the country's trade.
According to the latest speech of the Mongolian news agency quoted by the country's authorities on November 11, the construction of the "Eastern Union" pipeline connecting Russia through Mongolia to transport natural gas to the Chinese market is scheduled to begin in 2024 and is currently undergoing feasibility demonstrations (70% of which have been completed), and the preparatory work is scheduled to be completed within two years before construction begins.
In April 2021, a feasibility analysis of the construction of the "Eastern Union" gas pipeline was approved, which will run through Mongolia and become a continuation of Russia's "Siberian Force 2" gas pipeline. At present, Russia and China are discussing the expansion of the pipeline's annual gas transmission capacity to 440 cubic meters.
At the same time, in order to save the economy, Mongolia has also been learning from China's economic development model in recent years, and has established a free economic and trade zone in Zamen Ude, the largest land port on the border between China and Mongolia, where it can be consumed in renminbi and has become one of the driving forces for Mongolia's economic growth.
According to the news released by the Commerce Bureau of Erenhot City a week ago, Erenhot is the largest land port between China and Mongolia, located at a key node of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, and has a unique advantage in the landing and processing of imported grain. According to the data, 7 to 10 agricultural product transport trucks with a capacity of 40 tons pass through the port every day, and the main export commodities are fruits and vegetables, frozen pork and other agricultural products.
In recent years, in Erenhot, mongolian people often drive trucks to queue up here to shop and sweep goods, in their eyes, here is the forefront and representative of China's economic reform and opening up, but also a major place of consumption in China, buying high-quality and inexpensive products including electrical appliances produced in China, returning with full loads and then transporting them to other cities to make profits, and injecting vitality into the local economic development, because here mongolians enjoy visa-free treatment.
This will be all the more important in the coming months as the Fed scales back on quantitative easing, which is expected to tighten short-term dollar financing costs in emerging markets. In addition, Mongolia has also formulated a series of preferential policies to develop digital assets, hoping to seize the opportunity of China's digital economy development. (End)