Page 62 - RusRPTOct22

surplus with China quadrupled over the year, mainly due to Russia's increase in supplies of raw materials and energy carriers as part of the "pivot to the East." Judging by the speech of the PRC representative at the Eastern Economic Forum, Russia should not expect an acceleration of counter deliveries of Chinese equipment needed by the Russian Federation for import substitution.
In August, Russia's trade with China showed an acceleration - Russian exports to the country grew by 59% y/y (after 49% in July), deliveries from China to Russia increased by 26.5% after 22% in July.
The total volume of China's total exports for eight months amounted to $2.375 trillion (an increase of 13.5%), imports - $1.815 trillion (plus 4.6%). The share of Russia in the trade turnover of the PRC, thus, amounted to 2.75%. At the same time, the share of deliveries from the Russian Federation in total Chinese imports since the beginning of the year increased to 4% (2.9% in 2021), the share of deliveries to Russia in China's exports decreased to 1.9% (2% in 2021).
Thus, for Russia, the importance of China as the main trading partner is only growing: if in 2002 China accounted for 5% of Russian imports, then in 2021 - 25%. The Roscongress Foundation’s review released for the WEF notes that “the planned increase in the share of both imports and exports in the light of the current large-scale restructuring of Russia’s foreign trade gives every reason to predict a further expansion of China’s presence.” According to Vladimir Putin, at the plenary session of the forum on Wednesday, September 7, trade with China could reach the $200bn threshold this year.
The Russian government is considering introducing an export duty for fertilisers, aiming to raise at least RUB105bn ($1.7bn) from the sector, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed sources. As reported by bne IntelliNews, the EU’s fifth sanction package limited imports of Russian fertilisers. Other important pressure on fertiliser and chemical companies is being exerted by the sanctions on their main shareholders. However, a certain improvement in the month-on-month exports statistics in May showed that local fertiliser producers are adjusting fast and rerouting their exports.
The largest exporters of grain from Russia have reshuffled their respective market shares, with Demetra Trading dropping out of the top three, Kommersant daily reported citing unnamed market sources. In February heavily sanctioned state-controlled VTB Bank started divesting its grain assets. In the past few years VTB has been hoovering up assets in the grain export sector and now controls about a fifth of the business, becoming the largest operator of grain infrastructure in the process. According to Kommersant, in the period from From July 1 to August 23, 2022, VTB-controlled Demetra exported about 0.14mn tonnes of grain, ranking only 10th among all Russian exporters. In the last agricultural season, Demetra was the second-largest
62 RUSSIA Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com