Russian media reported that Russia started to compete for the Chinese agricultural market a few years ago and achieved good results. Russia's supply of agricultural products and various types of food to China rose from $1.1 billion in 2014 to $2.5 billion in 2018. Depending on the outcome of 2019, the growth rate has been maintained at 20-25%.


According to a recent report on the website of Russia's Sputnik news agency, the $3 billion supply is small compared to the Chinese market, but it should be noted that some of Russia's agricultural exports are already showing strong momentum in China. For ice cream, Russia is a top five supplier. Soybean oil and sunflower seed oil account for more than 30 percent of China's imports. And experts point out that this is not the limit.


Another trend is a gradual decline in the proportion of raw materials in the Russian food mix that supplies China, while the volume of high value-added products is increasing, the report said.


"China has a very good mechanism for increasing people's income and the government is fulfilling its promise to the people," said yelena shelbinina, manager of aliyka, which makes flour, sunflower seed oil, macaroni and brown rice. "Accordingly, as Chinese consumers demand more foreign food, Russian manufacturers are increasing their supplies."

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Yelena shelbinina pointed out that the increase in Russian product supply was related to the cooperation with Chinese partners, the report said. There are some partners in China who do not seek short-term profits but build long-term relationships with Russian manufacturers. Even some companies, specializing in Russian agricultural products business, for this also invested a lot of money. In addition, Russian suppliers have a better understanding of the rules of the game in the Chinese market and the psychology of Chinese consumers.


Andrei darinov, head of the strategic planning department of the cherkizovsky group, Shared his thoughts with Russia's Sputnik news agency on why many Russian companies are "eyeing" the Chinese market. The company began entering the Chinese market in the summer of 2019.


"We know that Chinese consumers are very bullish on Russian products as ecologically clean," he said. In other words, there is interest in Russian products."


According to the report, the supply of agricultural products has become a new growth point in china-russia trade. In 2018, Russia's agricultural exports to China increased by 42 percent, while trade increased by 27 percent over the same period. Data for 2019 are not yet available, but according to the preliminary annual results, the trend of leading agricultural exports is still there. In 2019, Moscow and Beijing signed a series of food and agricultural supply agreements. The prospects of china-russia agricultural trade are promising.