China and Russian will begin to transport crude oil via a bilateral freight train service from July, an executive of JSC Russian Railways said at an industry seminar on the future of railway freight train service between China and the Europe on Tuesday.
The new form of energy transport is set to give a boost toward the two nations' goal of doubling bilateral trade volume from the current $100 billion annual level.
Alexey Shilo, deputy general director of Russian Railways, said while the trade of crude oil is mostly done through ships, the company has inked a cooperation agreement with Chinese counterparts to transport crude beginning in July.
Transporting such products via railway requires a technology upgrade but such innovation has meaningful significance as it could address an imbalance of container stockpiles in Russia and China, industry experts pointed out.
Shilo noted during the first five months of this year, despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral railway freight exceeded 11 million tons, an annual increase of 25 percent.
China's general exports to Russia during the period rose 43 percent year-on-year and most was carried via containers.
According to data provided by the China Overseas Development Association, Russia's trade in agricultural commodities rose 27.8 percent in May.
The trade is set to grow further as China has cleared the way for Russian beef and mutton imports and Russia is to give a 50 percent subsidy to agriculture exports.
Editor:Cherie
