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Sino-Russia trade falls for first time in decade

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-15 22:07

HARBIN - Sino-Russian trade fell 39.2 percent year on year to US$13.5 billion in the first five months, the first drop in the past decade, as a result of the global downturn, an official of the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

China's imports from Russia reached US$7.43 billion, down 29.3 percent, while exports to Russia fell 48 percent to US$6.06 billion, Gao Hucheng, deputy minister of commerce, told participants in Russian Business Day.

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The business day -- actually, a two-day event -- is connected with the 20th China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair, or Harbin Trade Fair, which runs from Monday to Friday.

The downturn cut the trade of Turanles Forestry Co. of Russia's Amur Oblast by 10 percent in the first five months, said deputy general manager Eduard Leonidovichy.

Ninety percent of the business of the company, established in 1998, had been with China, but the downturn had reduced demand for wood in China, he said.

Volatile prices of crude oil, refined oil products, wood and chemical products, combined with decreasing domestic demand, had reduced China's imports from Russia, said Luo Weidong, an official with the Department of European Affairs, Ministry of Commerce.

At the same time, China's exports to Russia had fallen. The downturn had halved the export orders of Haining Hlly Garment Co. in east China's Zhejiang Province. Its leather garments used to be popular in Russia, but demand fell off last year, company manager Zhuang Kunming said, adding:  "It might get worse this year."

Another Chinese company, Harbin State-owned Songjiang Plywood Factory, turned to the domestic market when orders from Russia fell by half, according to Zhang Yongqun, general manager of the company. However, he said, business improved in May compared with April.

Leonidovichy said he hoped to find a Chinese company at the Harbin Trade Fair that would set up a new factory in Russia together.

"I have confidence in China's economy. My business will recover fast when the crisis is over," he said.