Russia Is Ninth Among China's Foreign Trade Partners

Russia is among the tenth leading partners in trade with China and, on results of the 2001 first quarter, ranks ninth, the RIA Novosti correspondent quotes the main customs department of the People's Republic of China as saying on Monday. In official statistics, the Russian-Chinese trade turnover in the first quarter of this year increased by 98.7 percent from the same period last year to 1,759 million dollars. The export of Chinese products increased by 35.2 percent and is estimated at 351.73 million dollars. Russia has supplied to China 1,407 billion dollars' worth of products, which is 125 percent more than last year. The leader in trade with China is Japan. The trade turnover between them increased by 15.8 percent in the 2001 first quarter to 12.37 billion dollars. In the second place is the European Union. Its volume of trade with China increased by 20 percent to constitute 11.332 billion dollars in the first quarter. In the third place is the United States. Its trade with China over the same period was 15 percent up, reaching 10.747 billion dollars. The next in order of succession are -- Hong Kong, countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Russia and Canada.