A study of trade relations between the Nizhny Novgorod region and China has been published

Trade between the Russian Nizhny Novgorod region and China began to grow rapidly after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Analyzing data from Nizhny Novgorod State, the authors of the new episode of the “Idel.Realii” project “China is going west” came to this conclusion. The new, sixth chapter of the project is entirely devoted to the Nizhny Novgorod region.

The indicators of both imports from China and exports to this country have increased several times. If in 2014, only 0.3% of Nizhny Novgorod goods sent abroad went to China, in 2015 this indicator exceeded 1%, and at its peak, in 2020, it reached almost 8%. Even higher export indicators – in 2021, more than 18% of all foreign goods supplied to the region were Chinese.

In absolute numbers, in 2014 the region sent products worth 18 million dollars to China, and six years later the region exported 20 times more goods to China — 381 million dollars.

It is also noted that the under construction section of the international road corridor “Europe – Western China” passes through the region. Construction is already affecting the ecology of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Without prior discussion, forests are cut down there, and this not only reduces forest massifs, but also threatens animals, including those listed in the Red Book. At the same time, the multi-ton vehicles used for the construction of the highway destroy the existing roads. The local government obeys the will of the center and does not react in any way to the indignation of the local population.

• In mid-March, President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China visited Moscow for a three-day visit. An expert of the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace and Carnegie Politics, Mikhail Korostykov, analyzing the reasons for the visit, pointed to the control over the development of the Russian market, from which a number of large Western companies left. “The most noticeable shift occurred in the Russian car market: of the 14 remaining brands, 11 are Chinese, while European cars are also actively imported through China through “parallel imports”. The share of Chinese cars among new purchases increased from 9% in February 2022 to 38% in February 2023,” the expert noted. According to Korostikov, the share of Chinese smartphones in the Russian market reached 75% compared to 50% a year earlier, construction equipment – 70% compared to 40% a year earlier, laptops – 40%. For the first time, Chinese Haier refrigerators took first place in popularity in Russia.
• But even despite the above figures, Russia is only in tenth place in the list of China’s main economic partners.
• Earlier, as part of the “China is going west” project, the Idel.realia project told how cooperation between Russian regions and the People’s Republic of China is progressing in Chuvashia, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Samara and Ulyanovsk regions.