Business

China's Exports to Russia Shrank Dramatically in August
By Reuters | 08 Sep, 2025

In a sign of the pain being felt by Russian consumers due to Putin's war, China's outbound shipments to Russia shrank 16.4% in August from a year earlier.

Gantry cranes stand near shipping containers at Yangshan Port outside of Shanghai, China, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo

China's yuan-denominated exports to Russia in August saw their biggest drop since February, while imports fell by double digits in percentage terms after climbing in July, Chinese customs data showed on Monday.

Outbound shipments to Russia contracted 16.4% in yuan terms last month from a year earlier, a fifth straight monthly decline and worse than July's 8.6% fall.

Imports slid 17.8%, reversing from a 4.4% increase in July.

The customs agency did not give a data breakdown on products sold to or bought from Russia on Monday.

For the first eight months of the year, China's exports to Russia fell 8.8% and imports were down 8.2%. The value of two-way trade stood at 1.03 trillion yuan ($145 billion) for January-August. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin left China on September 3 after meeting President Xi Jinping in Beijing and attending a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit and a military parade marking the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, wrapping up a four-day trip the Kremlin called "unprecedented."

The visit came as Putin seeks to reverse a slowing trend in Russia-China trade, which had soared to record levels as the war in Ukraine left Moscow isolated, Reuters reported citing Russian sources.

Russia and China gave their blessing to the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline but have yet to agree on pricing, Gazprom said during Putin's trip, despite pressure from the West for Beijing to row back on its deepening partnership with Moscow.

Over the weekend, a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas from Russia's sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project docked in a Chinese port, ship-tracking data showed.

($1 = 7.1343 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Hugh Lawson)