The seller told Xinhua that in addition to the homemade cakes, the shop sells products imported directly from Russia. Popular Chinese take bread, ice cream and pickles. Thanks to a good reputation, perhaps the most famous in Beijing Russian restaurant “Moscow”, more and more buyers come to shop for Russian delicacies.
Shop “Vitas” — are not uncommon, such stores “in Russian style” quite a lot, and over the past two years in Beijing has increased significantly. This is despite the fact that Russian bread and drinks can be bought in large chain stores such as Wu Mart and Lijia Baby. Readily available Russian products gradually become the new favorites on the tables of Chinese consumers.
Russia is quite a late start on a large scale to export to the Chinese market for food and agricultural products. However, thanks to reasonable price and good fame among Chinese buyers of Russian products has moved from the border areas into China. In conditions of fierce competition of the Russian food companies have successfully found their niche in the huge Chinese market.
In 2016 the volume of exports of Russian goods to China increased from 1,542 to 1.9 billion dollars. A large part of the export made food such as frozen fish, soybeans, oil, and chocolate products. The volume of exports of ice cream, confectionery and bread increased fourfold, and sunflower oil, chocolate and flour about two times.
Russian-Chinese e-Commerce gets a lot of business opportunities and gradually penetrates into the food trade. To date, the largest Russian player in Internet Commerce, “Hardware” (Ulmart) and Russian export centre established cooperation with Chinese trading partners. In China there are more than six thousand shops that sell Russian goods, getting them through online stores like “Taobao”. In the city district of Suifenhe, Heilongjiang province there are ten independent online platform that sells products from Russia.
Thanks to the Internet and advertising with celebrities recognition of Russian goods in the Chinese market is continuously growing. Candy-toffee in a purple wrapper “Krokant” and Tiramisu cake are extremely popular among young Chinese, and honey, alcoholic drinks and milk are the main products that the Chinese are happy to bring from Russia.
Chinese consumers satisfied with the quality of Russian goods. However, their price is often lower than the prices of goods imported from other countries. Many experts believe that the Sino-Russian cooperation in agriculture and related areas has enormous development potential. China is the world’s largest consumer of food, and Russia — one of the largest exporters of food. It may increase their participation in the Asian market.
Not so long ago, the government delegation of Primorsky Krai, held talks with the owners of the enterprise in Jilin province to establish a joint food companies. The Chinese side hopes to use imported from the Russian raw materials and Russian technology of manufacture of food products, to satisfy a huge domestic market demand.
The participation of Russian food exporters in the Chinese market is becoming more active. Last year in Beijing and Guangzhou held the Russian gastronomy week. In the future the export center plans to increase the scale of this event and spend it in other cities of China. Moreover, in March this year to top Russian products loaded freight train will travel from Kaluga region in the Chinese province of Guangdong. This will be the first Russian composition with food, launched from the European part of the country to China.
According to the Deputy Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Igor Morgulov, the rapid growth of China’s demand in the Russian goods has become a new trend in bilateral trade.
