China’s imports from Russia surge to new high, defying US calls to cut ties over Ukraine war
China’s monthly imports of Russian products including energy hit a record high in April, with Beijing defying mounting Western pressure to distance itself from Moscow following its decision to invade Ukraine.
The value of imports from Russia – which has been hit by a barrage of sanctions by the United States and its allies – rose to a new high of US$8.89 billion in April, up 56.6 per cent from a year earlier and 13.3 per cent above March, according to South China Morning Post calculations based on data of the General Administration of Customs.
Monday’s official trade data did not provide a breakdown of imports, but a large chunk of Chinese purchases are believed to be oil and gas.
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China imported 43 million metric tonnes of crude oil in April, an increase of 6.6 per cent from a year earlier. The total volume of crude imports for the January-April period dropped by 4.8 per cent to 171 million metric tonnes.
However, the average import price was 70.3 per cent higher than April 2021, according to Post calculations based on customs figures.
Exports to Russia last month dropped by 25.9 per cent from a year earlier to US$3.8 billion, after a 7.7 per cent year on year fall in March, customs data showed. Last month’s figure was 0.6 per cent lower than March.
The decline in exports slowed overall bilateral trade growth to 17.5 per cent in April from 54.9 per cent in January.
Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, said the decline suggests “Russia’s economy may have fallen further into contractionary territory last month amid the unprecedented sanctions from Western countries”.
Beijing has faced strong pressure to publicly condemn Russia’s military aggression and the US has warned of “consequences” if China violates sanctions against Moscow.
China has called for diplomacy and negotiation to end the war, while trying to maintain normal trade relations with both Russia and Ukraine.
Analysts attributed the divergence between export and import growth to rising international energy prices and pragmatism from Beijing.
Some 70 per cent of Chinese crude oil is bought from overseas and last year about 79.6 million metric tonnes, or 15.5 per cent of all crude imports, were from Russia.
Julian Evans-Pritchard, a senior China economist of Capital Economics, said the pick-up in value of Russian imports could largely be explained by higher energy prices.
“We don’t think it implies that China is actively stepping up purchases from the country,” he said.
The Ministry of Commerce said last month that Western sanctions on Russia have already caused disruption to China’s normal trade with its northern neighbour and some Chinese businesses have been forced to choose sides.
“We oppose any ban or restriction on China’s normal trade activities with other countries,” ministry spokeswoman Shu Jueting said at the time.
“China will take necessary measures to firmly defend the legitimate interests of Chinese enterprises.”
Energy security is a big concern for Beijing and it is determined to reduce the domestic impact of high international prices.
China signed several big energy deals with Russia in early February, when the two countries pledged to elevate bilateral trade to US$200 billion by 2024 from US$146.9 billion last year.
Russian crude oil accounted for 15 per cent of Chinese imports in the first quarter, and Russian ESPO blend crude oil accounted for one fifth of supplies at private refineries in the eastern province of Shandong, Citic Futures said in a note a week ago.
“The [Western] sanctions haven’t yet impacted imports, but private refineries’ crude purchases from Russia could fall in the second quarter,” Citic analyst Gui Chenxi wrote.
The European Union, which relies heavily on Russia oil and gas, is now considering imposing a ban on Russian crude oil by the end of this year.
The Group of 7 wealthy nations said on Sunday it would phase out dependency on Russian energy, but will do so in a “timely and orderly” fashion.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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