China and Russia continue to meet trade goals they set in the previous years. For 2019, trade between the two countries totaled $110.75 billion, according to new data released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
China's exports to Russia jumped 3.6% or $49.7 billion from the previous year. At the same time imports to Russia rose 3.2% or a total of $61.05 billion.
For the whole year of 2019, Chinese exports to Russia jumped 2.7% or $44.58 billion year-on-year. The country's imports to Russia, meanwhile, increased 3.5% or a total of $55.74 billion year-over-year. In December 2019 alone, China bought $5.53 billion of Russian goods and sold $4.88 billion of local goods.
The achievement is the realization of goals that Russia and China agreed in September 2019. At the time, the two countries promised to double their trade for the next five years. Their goal is to achieve $200 billion bought and sold products by 2024. If met, the International Monetary Fund said Russia could grow its economy to 1.2% while China's could jump to 6.3% annually.
The momentum was already observed by mid-December 2018 when trade between the two countries surpassed the $100 billion mark. At the time, trade was estimated at $108 billion already, registering a 24.5% growth compared to 2017.
Trade with China has been the biggest among any trade partners with Russia and the two parties wished to continue the smooth bilateral and trade collaboration. At the same time, Russia is China's tenth-largest trade partner.
Trade between the two countries consists of deals in mechanical and electrical products, high-tech products, agriculture, as well as energy nuclear, aerospace, cross-border infrastructure among others.
Most recently, Russia has become the number three destinations for Chinese travelers. There more than 2 million Chinese who visited Russia in 2019. That was a remarkable jump given that only about 150,000 Chinese traveled to Russia ten years ago.
On average, a Chinese tourist spent $700 on a flight to Russia. That translated to an overall tourist spending of $1 billion in 2019.
China and Russia were also on the same page on some major geopolitical issues concerning countries worldwide. For instance, they submitted a UN draft resolution calling for the United States to re-open discussion with North Korea regarding economic sanctions.
In fact, Pew's poll of 32 foreign countries showed that they have higher confidence in President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when it comes to decision regarding world affairs than US President Donald Trump.
