E-commerce boosts cross-border trade between China, Russia

HARBIN - E-commerce has facilitated cross-border trade between China and Russia, bringing cheaper Russian goods, especially food, to Chinese doorsteps, quicker than ever before.

During the second China-Russia expo in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, organic Russian food such as flour, honey, beer, vegetable oil and fruit juice featured prominently.

Heilongjiang, which shares a 3,000-km border with the neighboring country, is an important gateway to Russia.

Goods from Russia enjoy a "one-stop customs clearance" service in Heilongjiang's city Suifenhe, and can be in China within two hours, according to Wang Jianpeng, general manager of Eshanghui, a private Russian food e-commerce firm.

Wang was at the expo, which attracted nearly 10,000 businessmen from 103 countries and regions this year, promoting his Wechat account.

Organic Russian food enjoys huge popularity in China, said Wang.

"Our Wechat platform was launched mid-September, and we now boast more than 800 traders distributing Russian goods. Our daily-sales volume hit more than 100,000 yuan ($15,762) within 10 days," Wang said.

There are many other merchants distributing Russian goods from Suifenhe, hopefully organic Russian food would be available to all Chinese customers within the next five years, Wang added.

China remained Russia's largest trade partner for the fifth year in 2014, while Russia is China's ninth-largest trade partner.

Bilateral trade rose 6.8 percent from the previous year to a record high of $95.28 billion in 2014. Twenty years ago, it was less than $7 billion.

Russia has become the most attractive overseas market in the world for China's e-commerce companies, said Jiang Zhenjun, a Russian studies expert at Heilongjiang University, at a seminar that was part of the expo.

During "Singles' Day", the global shopping promotion by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.com, on Nov 11 last year, Russian customers purchased the largest amount of goods in the world, according to Jiang.