A truck makes its way through Hunchun Port, located in Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture. [Photo/Jilin Daily]

Northeast China's Jilin province has been making great strides in expanding its commerce and trade with Russia, judging from the latest results that have been achieved, according to a report in the Jilin Daily.

The province, which is the geographical center of Northeast Asia, has several border cities that act as windows for China to open up to the region.

In 2022, Jilin province's imports and exports to Russia reached 17.33 billion yuan ($2.52 billion), a year-on-year increase of 65 percent – a growth rate that was 35.7 percentage points higher than the national level – smashing the previous record.

Of that, exports kicked in 6.56 billion yuan, an increase of 123 percent, while imports contributed 10.77 billion yuan, up 43 percent.

King crabs are imported from Russia. [Photo/Jilin Daily]

In the first two months of this year, trade with Russia continued to maintain a strong upward growth momentum, with imports and exports increasing by 54.1 percent. Of that, exports increased by a massive 124.1 percent.

Hunchun, a small border city located at the junction of China, Russia and North Korea, has witnessed its export volume of complete automobiles to Russia hit new highs, while the import volume of seafood has steadily increased. Last year, the scale of Hunchun's cross-border e-commerce and B2C exports to Russia ranked first in the country.

Hunchun Port is the only checkpoint in Jilin province that is open to Russia. It can directly connect to port cities such as Zarubino and Vladivostok in that country. As such, it is regarded as a very important channel for China's trade with its neighbor.

As of April 2, a total of 3,589 domestically produced autos were exported via Hunchun's highways and railways, setting a record.