2/ According to data released by General Administration of Customs, 2019 was a difficult year for China's trade. Trade volume fell by 1%, imports have collapsed by 2.8%, while exports grew by just 0.5%, the lowest rate since 2016. Data in English 👉 https://t.co/G9tLYXsNi6— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
4/ Trade with Russia is one of the bright spots in an overall gloomy picture. The trade volume has reached a new record of $110.76b (+3.4%) with exports from China to Russia ($49.7b, +3.6%) growing faster than imports ($61b, +3.2%). Moscow enjoys a surplus of $11.3 billion.— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
6/ Average Brent price fell by roughly $7 in 2019 yoy (commodities led by oil made up for 76% of Russia's exports to China in 2018), but the 🇨🇳🇷🇺trade was still growing which suggests growth in volumes. This fits a familiar pattern for watchers of China-Russia trade ties.— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
8/ Push to expand pipeline capacity in order to ship more crude to China can be traced to 2013 deals between @RosneftRu and PRC oil giants. Rosneft's debt to China is one of the key drivers for expanding trade between Beijing and Moscow https://t.co/YXQV8lVGuE— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
10/ Sources of growth in 🇨🇳 exports to 🇷🇺 will be clearer once more detailed data is out. Circumstantial evidence suggests that it's both industrial equipment as Chinese companies are taking advantage of Western sanctions to squeeze EU competitors in the Russian market...— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
12/ Going forward, we have several factors that can help China & Russia to grow trade and break new records. The main driver will be successful launch of Power of Siberia gas pipeline. It will take till 2025 to reach full capacity of 38 bcm/year, but this will be a boost to trade
— Alexander Gabuev (@AlexGabuev) January 15, 2020
