Photo: Qi Xijia/GT

Many new Russian products have made their debuts at the ongoing 3rd China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, as Russian exhibitors said they are confident of the growth of the Chinese market.

Russian honey, chocolate, cashew nuts, sea cucumbers, pine nut kernels and other products attracted many Chinese consumers who lined up for a taste at the venue of the CIIE in Shanghai on Sunday.

The CIIE offered an excellent platform for premium Russian vodka to enter the Chinese market, which has a vast growth outlook, Lu Guoqian, China marketing director of Tatspirtporm, a top-selling vodka producer in Russia, told the Global Times on Sunday. Tatspirtporm's first journey with the CIIE started in a 9-square meter booth with six vodka brands. 

"We booked too late this year, with only small booths left, but we hope to book a booth of 80 square meters next year. We greeted 20 groups of merchants and distributors every day," Lu said.

Tatspirtporm just entered the Chinese market in September this year, but it quickly opened a flagship store on JD.com in October, with double-digit number of orders on the e-commerce platform every day. The company plans to open a store on Alibaba's e-commerce site Tmall and promote its products to young customers through live-streaming.

According to Lu, Tatspirtporm expects to get orders worth 30 million yuan ($4.54 million) through online and physical channels this year.

In the online live broadcast for CIIE exhibitors on Saturday, more than 400,000 cartons of Russian ice cream were sold out in just three hours, with the sales exceeding 3.8 million yuan. 

Analysts said that China will be the largest consumption market this year due to the impact of COVID-19, as the IMF outlook said China will be the only economy in the world to show growth in 2020. 

According to UBS Investment Bank, China's domestic consumption will grow 1.5 times over the next five years, which creates huge opportunities for foreign suppliers.

"We have great confidence in the Chinese market as Chinese young people are more interested in the world's excellent spirits than their parents. The sales volume of vodka in China has been increasing for five years in a row. However, Russian vodka only accounts for 10 percent of the market, leaving huge scope for growth," Lu said.

Jia Zhongzheng, a research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said generally he remained optimistic about the future of economic and trade relations between China and Russia.

"Both sides have mutual needs and a strong willingness to cooperate. The scope for agricultural is very large, as Russia has vast areas of fertile land. If the two sides can establish a long-term cooperation mechanism, it will greatly promote agricultural trade. Energy is also an important part of traditional China-Russian trade cooperation. The energy trade volume has been relatively large, and whether there is room for growth depends on whether the industry can be upgraded," Jia told the Global Times on Sunday.

Trade in agricultural and industrial products between Russia and China grew 11.2 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year. Russia's agricultural exports to China reached $2.5 billion, up 28.5 percent. China has become Russia's largest export market for agricultural products, according to media reports, citing Veronika Nikishina, CEO of the Russian Export Center.

"China and Russia set a target in 2019 of $200 billion in bilateral trade by 2024, although this has been affected by the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic this year. The second wave in Europe and the US has been stronger than expected, curbing the global economic recovery. In this context, it is difficult for China-Russia trade to remain isolated from the overall downward economic trend," Jia noted.