In September last year during a summit of “Big twenty”, held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Vladimir Putin presented to XI Jinping as a gift a box of ice cream, then “ice cream diplomacy” immediately became a hot topic for discussion. Then Putin said that in addition to ice cream, he is not interested in sweet. This statement dispelled the long-standing behind him “iron man” and, by contrast, showed it with a rather cute side.
“Purchased Putin in Vladivostok ice cream could be produced by our company,” he joked in an interview with our publication a resident of the far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, Amir of Hanoi.
Amir runs the company on manufacture of ice cream. Despite the relatively modest production volumes, their factory produces high quality products. “Khabarovsk borders China, and it gives us a huge opportunity to export,” — said Amir. On the impact of Putin’s “ice cream diplomacy” for his business, he said very excitedly: “For more than three months after the G20 summit about 100 Chinese importers came to us for talks on cooperation”.
In fact, in addition to ice cream on the Chinese market is constantly available on a variety of agricultural products. In the past year, China has become a major consumer of Russian food. More than 30 types of Russian goods, presented last week in Shanghai at the International exhibition of the industry of food and beverage in China, also waiting when they will open the door to the Chinese market.
Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of agriculture
The dairy sector, the representative of which is Amir, gives a good profit in the Chinese market. According to analysts of the Russian center of the dairy market “Milknews” and the national Union of milk producers “Soyuzmoloko”, the first ten months of 2016 the Russian exports of dairy products to China increased 1.7 times and reached 6.7 million dollars. And over the past five years, the volume of Russian exports of dairy products to China grew 23раза. Executive Director of “Soyuzmoloko” Artem Belov said that China is “a key strategic trading partner and a priority of expanding exports of dairy products.” He noted that in 2017 the export of dairy products in China continues to grow.
Ice cream Amir also last year, rapidly entered the market of China. According to him, the last batch of goods weighing 6 tons in the next few weeks will arrive in Shanghai. He also added that the ice cream must be adjusted to the taste preferences of the Chinese.
Dairy products is just one example of several Russian products that fall into the Chinese market. At the recent international economic forum of “One belt, one road” China and Russia have agreed to establish a regional development and cooperation joint Fund with a capital of 100 billion yuan. The initial capital of 10 billion yuan will be used to advance cooperation between the Russian Far East and northeastern region of China, Dunbai. The main direction of this cooperation will be the agricultural sector. The past two years, China has strengthened food security, and Russia was actively promoted agricultural exports for foreign currency. All this greatly contributed to the rapid development of Russian-Chinese bilateral agricultural trade. China has also gradually opened to the import of Russian agricultural products.
© RIA Novosti, Sergey Guneev | go to Photobacterium of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin speaks at the opening ceremony of the International forum of “One belt, one road” during his working trip to China, 14 may
17 December 2015 during the 20th meeting of the heads of governments of Russia and China signed an agreement concerning conditions of Russian wheat exports to China, which partially eliminated some of the restrictions on import. Train with the first 500-tonne batch of wheat arrived in China in April this year from the Krasnodar region on the Manchurian railway station, located in the Autonomous region of the PRC Inner Mongolia. Around the same time in the Ministry of agriculture of Russia has signed a long-term contract on delivery to China of Russian agricultural production. The contract was signed between the Russian-Chinese company “Export food trade” and Chinese company “Sino-European agricultural development”. The export of Russian agricultural products in China is carried out in the framework of the initiative “New land grain corridor Russia — China”.
As for the prospects of Russian-Chinese cooperation, the representative of the Russian export centre Sergey Lebedev is the Director of business development with China, believes that Russia has always considered the Chinese market as a priority direction. The export-import Bank (ROSEXIMBANK) and some importers are willing to extend credit to the Chinese partners. Lebedev expressed hope that the initiative “One belt, one road”, the trade turnover between Russia and China in 2020 will reach $ 200 billion. The same goal set in this year, the heads of the two countries.
China has become a major consumer of Russian food
According to the Russian center for export in 2016 China has become a major consumer of Russian food. China has bought from Russia of products with a total value of 1.55 billion dollars, a growth compared with the previous year was 20%. Last week more than 50 Russian companies presented at the International exhibition of the industry of food and beverage products in China, held in Shanghai, more than 30 kinds of products. In addition to ice cream at the show there was a grocery, sweets, chocolate, alcoholic beverages, honey and other products. Also, the Russian Consulate General in Shanghai organized a presentation of the Russian organic products.
Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of agriculture every day is getting closer, and Chinese importers are also looking for business opportunities. One of the representatives of this business sawwan told our correspondent that to date the Russian production does not cause such a big stir in the Chinese market as the NZ milk and Australian steaks. However, provided greater openness, you may receive more channels for the exchange of goods.
