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2016 to June 30, 2017, the regulator told TASS. The Russian Ministry of Agriculture forecasts grain export growth to 52mn tonnes as of the end of this agricultural year ending on June 30.
China’s imports of Russian soya beans tripled to a record 850,000 tonnes in the agricultural marketing season between last July and mid May of this year as a result of the trade row between Washington and Beijing. China, the biggest importer of soya beans in the world, reduced its purchases from US suppliers in retaliation to putative trade traffics slapped on Chinese imports to the US thanks to a new tougher protectionist trade regime imposed by US president Donald Trump. China has been reluctant to open its agricultural sector to imports and maintains a very controlled regime, but its is increasingly turning to Russia to supply its needs.
The bilateral turnover between Russia and Japan rose by 14% last year and was above $18bn, Putin said following a meeting with Abe at SPIEF on May 24. . The volume of accumulated Japanese investments into the Russian economy is also growing," Putin said. Good relations were established between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and their joint fund provides practical assistance to companies of both countries in raising loans for promising joint projects, he said. About 100 joint projects are implemented within the scope of the cooperation plan, Putin noted. Russia covers 10% of Japan’s market needs in respect of natural gas and companies from Japan are participating in their turn in natural gas production and processing at Yamal LNG, Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 enterprises, he added.
5.2.2 Current account dynamics
In 1Q18, Russia posted a significant rise in its current account surplus (+29% y/y), which reached $28.8bn . At the same time, net private capital outflows declined to $13.4bn vs $16.4bn in 1Q17.
40 RUSSIA Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com