China, trade with Russia is a record (and the deficit as well)
Trade between China and Russia has grown to 190 billion dollars in 2022. But for Beijing, the trade deficit is also widening, reaching record figures. All the details
In 2022, trade between China and Russia reached a record sum of $190 billion.
Chinese authorities said flows to and from Moscow accounted for 3 percent of Beijing's total trade with the world. In particular, Chinese exports to Russian territory have grown for six consecutive months.
TRADE IN LPG, NATURAL GAS AND OIL
By contrast, Russia more than doubled its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rail exports to China last year in an effort to compensate for reduced access to Europe's energy market.
Chinese imports of natural gas via the Power of Siberia pipeline have increased by at least 50 percent, Russian state-owned Gazprom reported. Purchases of Russian crude oil, on the other hand, grew by 10 percent in the first eleven months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, reaching almost 80 million tons.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said in November that "China is ready to work with Russia to forge a closer partnership on energy cooperation." The increase in energy imports was favored by the discounts that Russia applies on its crude oil and by the low price of the gas contracted with China.
EXCHANGES SLOW DOWN
In December, however, there was a significant slowdown in trade between China and Russia.
Indeed, in that month, Chinese exports grew by 8.3 percent on an annual basis, but in November they had risen by 17.9 percent. Imports from Moscow increased by 8.3 percent, much less than the +28.5 percent recorded in November.
This decline can be explained – writes Reuters – by the surge in COVID-19 cases following the easing of anti-contagion restrictions, which negatively influenced demand levels.
THE IMBALANCES BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA
In 2022, as a result of the increase in international energy prices, stimulated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China's trade deficit with Russia reached 38 billion dollars: a record.
Beijing bought $114.1 billion in goods from Moscow last year, 44 percent more than in 2021. Chinese imports from the rest of the world grew by just 1.1 percent year-on-year.
In 2022, China's exports to Russia also grew, but only by 13 percent, to 76.1 billion. As a result, the trade deficit for Beijing has widened, and has more than tripled since 2021.
For 2023, given the abandonment of the zero-COVID policy, an increase in Chinese energy needs is expected: Russia will try to satisfy it in larger shares, and the imbalance in the balance of trade could grow further.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/cina-russia-commercio-2022-190-miliardi/ on Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:19:10 +0000.