China and Russia will continue to expand trade in electromechanical and consumer products, while maintaining stable trade in energy, minerals, grain and other bulk commodities, government officials and business leaders from both sides said.
They said that these moves will reinforce the resilience and security of bilateral industrial and supply chains, inject greater stability into the global economy and create fresh growth momentum.
Ma Chi, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Commerce’s Eurasian Affairs Department, said the structure of bilateral trade has continued to improve, with the share of electromechanical products in two-way trade increasing steadily.
China’s exports of products such as automobiles, home appliances and machinery equipment to Russia have maintained strong momentum, while Russia has ensured stable supplies of goods including energy resources, minerals and agricultural products to China, fully leveraging the complementary strengths of both countries in resources, industries and markets, said Ma.
“At the same time, new forms of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce have flourished, injecting fresh momentum into bilateral trade growth,” he added.
Elena Serdyukova, representative of the trade representation in China of Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development, said that more diversified economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia will help both sides move beyond traditional trade toward industrial and supply chain cooperation, and long-term, mutually beneficial investment.
“Through platforms such as the ongoing 10th China-Russia Expo, Russia hopes to bring more non-resource products into the Chinese market,” she said.
The value of China-Russia trade reached $227.9 billion in 2025, marking the third straight year that trade exceeded $200 billion, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.
Bilateral trade grew 19.7 percent year-on-year to $85.24 billion in the first four months of this year, the General Administration of Customs said.
Against this backdrop, Ningbo Careline Electric Appliance Co, a kitchenware manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, saw its export value of air fryers to Russia reach 46.7 million yuan ($6.87 million) in the January to April period.
“Fried foods are an essential part of daily life in Russian households. We have been working closely with local Russian partners to design and launch air fryers tailored for Russian consumers,” said Zhang Qian, the company’s vice-president.
Trade between Ningbo’s ports and Russia reached 17.04 billion yuan in the first four months of this year, up 22 percent year-on-year, statistics from Ningbo Customs showed.
As the TIR cross-border road transport model has developed rapidly between China and its trading partners in recent years, Manzhouli Customs in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region cleared 1,298 inbound and outbound TIR trucks traveling between China, Russia and several Eastern European countries via its land ports in the first four months of 2026.
TIR, short for Transports Internationaux Routiers, is an international customs transit system designed to help save time and cost for transport operators and customs authorities when moving goods across borders.
Ding Chao, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies, said that China-Russia economic cooperation is shifting from scale expansion to a new phase of high-quality development driven by institutional cooperation and innovation.
Contact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn