Page 95 - RusRPTJun24

5.2 Balance of payments, current account 5.2.1 Import/export dynamics
● Partners & regions
Last year China’s imports of Russian oil reached a record high of 107m tonnes, 24% more than in 2022. Russia supplied nearly one-fifth of China’s crude imports, making it the biggest source. China’s imports of Russian natural gas rose 62%.
Chinese banks now reject more than half of transactions from Russia.
According to Reuters , transactions can even be rejected for toys. 54 of our payments (34%) were also returned to importers. As a result, direct deliveries from China to Russia decreased by a record 16% in March 2024, and by another 13% in May, to $8.3 billion. The result of a survey conducted in the “Chief Importer” Telegram community among 718 respondents showed that that only 10% of Russian market participants have not encountered problems with payments, while a third are experiencing difficulties, and 44% consider the situation critical.
Some banks, amid sanctions, have completely refused to accept payments from Russians. According to surveys of market participants, of the big four Chinese banks - Bank of China, ICBC, CCB and ABC Bank - only the latter handles money from Russia. Small regional banks (for example, ChongQing Rural Commercial Bank) also continue to cooperate. But sanctions are introduced regularly, and the bank that accepted money stably yesterday may stop doing so tomorrow. Therefore, even before sending the payment, it is worth asking the manager of the Chinese supplier to personally call the bank and make sure that the money will arrive. Such a check on his part will take a couple of minutes. But it will take a long time to get through, up to two days - due to the huge number of requests from suppliers.
Trade Between Russia and India Reaches Record $17.5bn in Q1. The trade turnover between Russia and India in the first quarter of the year has grown to a record $17.5bn, marking a 5% increase compared to the same period last year. During this time, Russia remained the second-largest supplier of goods to India, following China. March proved to be the most productive month for bilateral trade, with a turnover of $6.3bn, nearly surpassing the previous monthly record.
According to the latest data from March 2024, trade between the United States and Russia continues and has even sharply increased by 1.5 times. Russian imports to the U.S. amounted to $427 million, the highest figure since May 2023. Exports from the U.S. to Russia were $43.7 million. It's interesting what Russia sells: fertilizers, enriched uranium, platinum and turbojet engines.
95 RUSSIA Country Report June 2024 www.intellinews.com