Chinese Border City Reports 11 pct Rise in Trade with Russia

Suifenhe, a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province that borders Russia, saw its bilateral trade with Russia reaching 2.75 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2011, up 11.7 percent from a year ago.

Trade with Russia accounts for 42.4 percent of the city's total foreign trade volume, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the city's customs department.

The city's foreign trade volume stood at 6.5 billion dollars between January and November, up 2.3 percent year-on-year, said the statement.

Suifenhe is a major channel of Sino-Russian trade and the country's largest port connecting northeast China with the Sea of Japan. It mainly imports crude oil, oil products, timber and iron ore, with garments, clothing accessories, mechanical and electrical products and farm produce as major exports.

China is currently Russia's largest trading partner, and trade volume between the two countries is expected to exceed 70 billion U.S. dollars in 2011.