TASS:

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Commerce, as of December 2018, the trade volume between China and Russia has exceeded US$100 billion. What kind of expectations does the General Administration of Customs have on the economic and trade cooperation between the two sides in 2019?

Li Kuiwen:

Thank you for the question. In 2018, against the background of frequent high-level visits and all-round cooperation between China and Russia, the two countries' economic and trade relationship continued to increase, and Sino-Russian economic and trade cooperation has maintained a good momentum of development. According to customs statistics, China's imports and exports to Russia in 2018 were 707.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24 percent, accounting for 2.3 percent of China's total import and export value during the same period. Among them, exports to Russia reached 316.65 billion yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent, and imports from Russia reached 390.9 billion yuan, an increase of 39.4 percent. If denominated in U.S. dollars, the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia reached US$107.06 billion in 2018, surpassing US$100 billion for the first time, a record high, with an increase of 27 percent. The growth rate ranked first among China's top ten trading partners. In terms of main import and export commodities, exports to Russia were mainly mechanical and electrical products, while imports from Russia were mainly energy resource products such as crude oil, coal and sawn timber.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Russia. Both countries will work together to further strengthen strategic cooperation, promote cooperation in all fields, and promote China-Russia's comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to achieve more fruitful results and better benefit the two peoples. It is expected that there will be new developments in Sino-Russian economic and trade relations this year. Thank you.

Reuters:

I'd like to ask how the import and export figures with the U.S. in 2018 compared with 2017? And what's your projection for the year to come? Thank you.

Li Kuiwen:

Thanks for your questions. Now I'd like to inform you of some figures regarding the Sino-U.S. trade due to the wide concerns in this regard. Data from the General Administration of Customs show that, in 2018, the volume of our trade with the U.S. was 4.18 trillion yuan, 5.7 percent up year-on-year. Our exports to the U.S. hit 3.16 trillion yuan, a gain of 8.6 percent. Our imports from the U.S. fell 2.3 percent to 1.02 trillion yuan. This means our trade surplus in 2018 was 2.14 trillion yuan, up 14.7 percent year-on-year. Priced in dollars, the total value of the imports and exports between China and the U.S. reached US$633.52 billion, 8.5 percent up year-on-year. The total value of bilateral exports hit US$478.42 billion, 11.3 percent up year-on-year, and the total value of bilateral imports was US$155.1 billion, a 0.7 percent gain. We see China's trade surplus with the U.S. rising to US$323.32 billion, 17.2 percent up year-on-year. China's 2018 trade surplus with the U.S. somewhat widened compared with 2017, which we think demonstrates the complementarities between the two economies in different stages of development.

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