Page 59 - bneIntelliNews monthly country report Russia May 2024

● Partners & regions
Turkey's trade boom with Russia is faltering due to "rapidly expanding" Western sanctions lists, Bloomberg reported on April 5. Following extensive sanctions imposed by Western countries against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Turkey became one of the key lifelines for Moscow's international trade. Turkish machinery exporters, who benefited from the surge in sales to Russia last year, may see their revenues drop by $1bn in 2024 due to sanctions, Bloomberg said, citing Kutlu Karavelioglu, the chairperson of the Machinery Exporters' Association. This represents one-third of last year's sales to Russia, Karavelioglu clarified for Bloomberg. Data published by Turkey's Trade Ministry indicate that exports to Russia dropped by 33.7% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier.
Even before 2022, Western sanctions had encouraged Russia to deepen its embrace of China In 2023, trade turnover between the two countries exceeded $240 billion, with China accounting for 38 percent of Russian imports and 31 percent of Russian exports. Beijing now enjoys a virtual monopoly with respect to various products exported to Russia, which means it could also charge higher prices than for consumers in other markets. In 2023, both Chinese car exports and tractor exports to Russia increased by nearly 600 percent.21 The share of Chinese cars on the Russian market in 2023 exceeded 60 percent. In February 2022, brands from China accounted for just 9 percent of the market.
Chinese exports to Russia declined by 16% year on year in March 2024,
making the first y/y decline since mid-2022, Bloomberg reports citing Chinese customs data. As previously followed by bne IntelliNews, Bloomberg linked the decline in Chinese exports to Russia to growing threat of secondary US sanctions and difficulty with cross-border payment settlements as several Chinese banks have stopped accepting payments in yuan from Russia. The need to revive the Russo-Sino trade volumes could even be addressed by the President Vladimir Putin at talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping when Putin visits China in May, unnamed sources told Blomberg. Sources added that Russia views the trade slowdown as temporary. In 2023, trade between Russia
59 RUSSIA Country Report May 2024 www.intellinews.com