An aerial view of Yinchuan city, capital of Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region [Photo/IC]
In the first two months of 2023, the total value of Ningxia's imports and exports to Russia was 140 million yuan ($20.43 million), a year-on-year increase of 135.5 percent. Exports accounted for 80 million yuan, rising by 40.7 percent over the previous year, while imports accounted for 60 million yuan, nearly a 30-fold increase.
Ningxia has maintained a good growth momentum in import and export trade with Russia for two consecutive years, 2021 and 2022.
The total value of Ningxia's imports and exports to Russia in 2022 was 680 million yuan, growing by 81.1 percent year-on-year. Exports accounted for 560 million yuan, an increase of 57 percent year-on-year, while imports accounted for 120 million yuan, surging by 535.8 percent.
The main import and export commodities between Ningxia and Russia have increased significantly.
In 2022, the export values of mechanical and electrical products, organic chemicals, and high-tech products from Ningxia to Russia reached 220 million yuan, 120 million yuan, and 140 million yuan respectively, with increases of 178 percent, 144.2 percent, and 189 percent yaer-on-year. The export value of these three categories of products accounted for 85.7 percent of Ningxia's total exports to Russia.
On the other hand, Ningxia imported nearly 100 million yuan's worth of flaxseeds from Russia, a 20-fold increase, accounting for 80.3 percent of Ningxia's total imports from Russia.
Ningxia is a core region for flaxseed processing and consumption of flaxseed oil in China, yet local enterprises cannot satisfy the huge domestic demand.
Ningxia's flaxseed processing enterprises need to purchase more than 150,000 tons of flaxseed raw materials every year from countries and regions such as Kazakhstan and Russia.
At the end of 2022, 1,600 tons of flaxseeds were shipped from Russia, transported by an international freight train, entered China through the Suifenhe Port in Heilongjiang province, and arrived in the Yinchuan Comprehensive Free Trade Zone.
In addition, private enterprises are the main force in Ningxia's import and export trade with Russia. In 2022, the import and export value of dealings of private enterprises in Ningxia with Russia reached 520 million yuan, soaring by 205.4 percent year-on-year, accounting for 76.4 percent of the total import and export value between Ningxia and Russia.
