How does China fare on the Russian market? Implications for the European Union (2024)

FAQs

How does China fare on the Russian market? Implications for the European Union? ›

Competition between the EU and China on the Russian market shows up most clearly in trade data, with the EU losing market share and China ramping up the value added of its exports to Russia. This is much less the case for investment and is only starting for cross-border lending, mainly in the project finance field.

Russia and China deepen economic ties amid surge in trade since Ukraine invasion. Russia and China have agreed to deepen investment in trade services, promote agricultural exports and boost sports cooperation, as Mikhail Mishustin, Russia's prime minister, signed a set of bilateral agreements on a visit to Beijing.

China is the third largest destination for EU exports, after the US and the UK, with exports to China reaching EUR 230 billion in 2022, accounting for 9 percent of the EU's total exports.

China remains the EU's largest trading partner with bilateral trade flows that exceeded €850 billion in 2022.

Europeans wanted the power and resulting wealth that would come from controlling trade. Finding all- water routes to Asia and its riches would allow European merchants to cut out Middle Eastern middlemen and reap all the profits of eastern trade. Some Europeans were also eager to spread Christianity to nonbelievers.

China has become an increasingly important trading partner for Russia as it seeks to soften the impact of economic sanctions imposed by some countries in response to its invasion.

China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination. We are both major countries in the world and permanent members of the UN Security Council. Both countries uphold an independent foreign policy and see our relationship as a high priority in our diplomacy.

China is the largest trading partner to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Given their proximity, those countries are hardly a surprise. But it is also the top trader with Russia—and Ukraine.

In 2022, China's share was about 18.48 percent.

Who is China's biggest trading partner? ›

The full-year GDP resulted in China's economy increasing in value by $3 trillion from 2020 to 17.7 trillion in 2021, leaping ahead of the EU. The world's second-largest economy benefited significantly during the Covid-19 crisis from its status as the world's factory.

The EU and China are each other's largest trading partner as of 2023. The EU is the PRC's largest trading partner, and the PRC is the EU's largest trade partner. In 2020, China overtook the US in becoming the EU's largest trade partner in terms of goods. Most of this trade is in industrial and manufactured goods.

All foreign trade was to be conducted by official tribute missions, handled by representatives of the Ming Empire and its "vassal" states. Private foreign trade was made punishable by death, with the offender's family and neighbors exiled from their homes.

The Europeans of course were not shipping the silver to China as an act of donation or charity. They were getting goods in return, such as silk, porcelain, and later especially tea.

China is the most important trading partner of the European Union: In 2021, the EU and China traded goods worth € 696 bn (imports and exports). This represents 16% of all EU trade in goods.

According to a Genron NPO poll released in November 2022 on Chinese peoples' views of the Russian invasion, 39.5% of respondents said the Russian actions "are not wrong", 21.5% said "the Russian actions are a violation of the U.N.

Russia has deep cultural, economic, and political bonds with Ukraine, and in many ways Ukraine is central to Russia's identity and vision for itself in the world. Family ties. Russia and Ukraine have strong familial bonds that go back centuries.

Countries supporting Russia in the war with Ukraine

Other Russian Supporting Countries in the war with Ukraine are Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Kyrgyzstan.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia kept the same close ties to India; in international terms, both nations share a special relationship. Russia and India, both, consider their mutual affinity to be a "special and privileged strategic partnership".

Who is Russia's largest trading partner? ›

The value of total exports from Russia to its major trade partner — China — amounted to nearly 69 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

They have close economic ties and are significantly intertwined, yet they also have a hegemonic great power rivalry throughout the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

This data suggests that if U.S. hypothetically stops buying Chinese goods, China's export will suffer a 18% loss, which accounts for 18%*20% = 3.6% of China's GDP. It is unlikely a 3.6% loss in GDP will collapse the Chinese economy.

The position of China among the largest trade partners of the EU in 2022 can be seen in Figure 5. In 2022, China was the third largest partner for EU exports of goods (9.0 %). It was preceded by the United States (19.8 %) and the United Kingdom (12.8 %) and followed by Switzerland (7.3 %) and Türkiye (3.9 %).

Historically, America has long been the EU's top country to trade with, but in 2020, that trend came to a screeching halt. A $26.7 billion boost for Chinese imports, in addition to a $5.3 billion increase in EU exports, has resulted in China officially becoming the EU's largest trade partner.

Exports The top exports of United States are Refined Petroleum ($83.3B), Petroleum Gas ($70.9B), Crude Petroleum ($67.6B), Cars ($55.4B), and Integrated Circuits ($51.3B), exporting mostly to Canada ($259B), Mexico ($247B), China ($151B), Japan ($71.8B), and South Korea ($66.4B).

China is currently our largest goods trading partner with $559.2 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2020. Goods exports totaled $124.5 billion; goods imports totaled $434.7 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with China was $310.3 billion in 2020.

Manufacturing, services and agriculture are the largest sectors of the Chinese economy – employing the majority of the population and making the largest contributions to GDP.

What percent of the world economy is Russia? ›

After narrowly lagging behind China in 2022, Mexico officially became the US's largest trading partner at the start of 2023, according to new US Census Bureau figures.

Germany's economy has consistently had the largest economy in Europe since 1980, even before the reunification of West and East Germany. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has had mixed fortunes during the same time period and had a smaller economy than Italy in the late 1980s.

Median wealth in China was more than four times greater than in Russia, where median wealth was $6,379 in 2021. China's average wealth, however, was still less than a third of the wealth of the median American ($93,271) — and only about 10% of the wealth of the median Belgian ($256,336).

According to the latest available data from the World Bank, the United States of America is currently the world's largest economy, with a GDP of over $23 trillion in 2021.

As of 2022, no country other than the United Kingdom has voted on whether to withdraw from the EU.

If we first compare the absolute amounts, we see that Germany was the largest net contributor in 2021 with an amount of 21.4 billion euros. It is followed by France with 10.9 billion euros and the Netherlands with just under 4.1 billion euros.

Why couldn t Europe conquer China? ›

During the European powers' attempt to control the world, the Chinese Empire was not easy to conquer as it had a powerful army and government like the Ottoman Empire. Its large size became an advantage, making it an elusive target for colonization.

Because China was practically self-sufficient, its emperors had little interest in trading with Europeans. For decades, Europeans could do business only at the port of Canton. Despite pleas from Britain and other nations, China refused to open other ports to foreigners.

On 30 December 2020, the EU and China concluded in principle the negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). The agreement grants EU investors a greater level of access to China's market.

Merchants carried silk from China to Europe, where it dressed royalty and wealthy patrons. Other favorite commodities from Asia included jade and other precious stones, porcelain, tea, and spices. In exchange, horses, glassware, textiles, and manufactured goods traveled eastward.

Silk was the favorite product along the Silk Road. Chinese silk was regarded as a treasure in ancient Central Asia, West Asia, Africa, and Europe. The European market had the biggest demand for silk and Chinese silk was highly appreciated in Europe.

Meanwhile Europeans wanted many products from China, such as tea, silk, and ceramics. Economically, this meant the Chinese profited from the silver trade while European countries did not.

As reported by WTO in 2023, exports of goods in 2021 were USD 3,363.8 billion and imports USD 2,688.6 billion, while exports and imports of services in 2021 reached USD 390.6 billion and USD 438 billion respectively.

China is the largest trading partner to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan.

China, the world's top metals consumer, imported a combined $5.1 billion worth of aluminium, refined copper and refined nickel from Russia in 2022, up 16% from 2021 with import volumes heading higher so far this year.

In 2021, Russia exported $70.9B to China. The main products exported from Russia to China were Crude Petroleum ($35.4B), Coal Briquettes ($4.69B), and Refined Petroleum ($3.91B). During the last 26 years the exports of Russia to China have increased at an annualized rate of 12.7%, from $3.18B in 1995 to $70.9B in 2021.

What China gets from Russia? ›

Beijing's spending on Russian energy, including crude oil and products, coal and natural gas, ballooned to $88 billion in the year through February, according to Chinese customs figures, replacing other buyers that have shunned Russian exports because of the war. That compared to $57 billion in the previous 12 months.

The two countries have built strong trade ties, especially since 2008. China became Ukraine's largest trading partner in 2019, with a trade turnover of US $15.4 billion in 2020, of which Ukraine exports goods were worth US $7.1 billion. The total trade turnover increased from 2% of Ukraine's GDP in 2001 to 11% in 2020.

Russia's five main import partners in 2021 were China, Germany, the United States, Belarus, and South Korea.

Russia main imports are: machinery, equipment and transport (45 percent of total imports), chemical products (19 percent) and foodstuffs and agricultural products (14.5 percent).

Exports The top exports of Russia are Crude Petroleum ($113B), Refined Petroleum ($81.8B), Petroleum Gas ($37.7B), Coal Briquettes ($19.1B), and Gold ($19.1B), exporting mostly to China ($70.9B), Netherlands ($39B), United States ($27.4B), United Kingdom ($24.7B), and Italy ($22.2B).

Currently, China's top imports are crude petroleum, integrated circuits, iron ore, and cars. The largest exporter to China is the nation of Japan. The United States of America is the third-largest exporter to China, ranking behind only Japan and South Korea in that respect.

China is currently our largest goods trading partner with $559.2 billion in total (two way) goods trade during 2020. Goods exports totaled $124.5 billion; goods imports totaled $434.7 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with China was $310.3 billion in 2020.

Saudi Arabia is China's main crude oil supplier. In 2021, China imported nearly 81 million metric tons worth of crude oil from the Middle Eastern producing giant. In fact, the majority of China's oil imports originated from countries in the Middle East.

China's imports of Russian crude oil spiked 8 percent in 2022, the equivalent of 1.72 million barrels per day (bpd), according to Chinese customs data, making Russia the East Asian giant's second-biggest supplier.

Russia's exports of crude oil have now surpassed the volumes hit before its invasion of Ukraine. China and India account for roughly 90% of Russia's seaborne crude exports, Kpler data shows. With Europe largely out of the picture, the two countries are each buying 1.5 million barrels a day from Russia.

What is China's economy dependent on? ›

China still depends a lot on imported components and technology resources and knowhow and so on. And China is no longer so dependent on exports, but exports nevertheless has been an important driver of growth. The export sector tend to be the more competitive sector in the economy, the domestic-oriented are less so.

In its World Economic Outlook released last week, the International Monetary Fund said China is “rebounding strongly” following the reopening of its economy. The country's GDP will grow 5.2% this year and 5.1% in 2024, it predicted.

COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, invested US$50 million in Mariupol – now a frontline city in Donetsk province, which has been besieged by pro-Russia separatists since 2014 – to triple its agricultural transshipment capacity.