It is hoped that China and Russia tap their cooperation potential in the soybean trade in line with market rules and advance a long-term and steady cooperation across the entire industry chain, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday.

(File Photo: VCG)

Currently, most of Russia's soybean exports to China come from the Far East. China welcomes Russia's soybean production bases in Europe to expand collaboration with China, including exporting its soybeans to China's coastal provinces with strong processing capacity, Gao Feng, MOFCOM spokesperson, said at a press conference. 

Gao said this is an important move to implement the consensus of the two heads of state that will effectively facilitate bilateral soybean trade. 

Last year, China imported 817,000 tonnes of soybeans from Russia, up 64.7 percent year on year. In July 2019, Chinese companies imported 4,400 tonnes of soybeans from Russia by sea. 

According to a recent statement of the General Administration of Customs, the source of Russia's soybean exports to China have been expanded to all parts of Russia while waterway and sea transport means has been newly added. 

Customs data show that bilateral agricultural trade hit a record high of five billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 28.2 percent year on year. Of this total, China imported 3.21 billion dollars worth of agricultural products from Russia, up 51.3 percent year on year.