Trade between Russia and China is no longer booming as it was immediately after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. In 2024, annual trade between the two was up 1.9 per cent from the previous year to $240 billion (£182 billion). But in the first four months of 2025, it fell 7.5 per cent from the past year to just $71.1 billion (£54 billion), according to Chinese customs data. Chinese exports to Russia are down 5.3 per cent ($30.8 billion or £23 billion), while Russian deliveries to China are down 9.1 per cent ($40.3 billion or £30.5 billion) between January and April.
The drop in Russian exports can only partly be explained by the decline in oil prices. Chinese buyers are becoming more alert to the threat of US secondary sanctions against Russian oil buyers, who transport their goods using blacklisted tankers. The decline in Chinese exports to Russia, on the other hand, can mainly be attributed to the overall cooling of the Russian economy, including consumer and investment demand.
Moscow and Beijing are now more interdependent than ever
However, despite this decline in trade, with sanctions against Russia still in place and the trade war between China and the US only given temporary
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