TASS assessed the new edition of an analytical review «Monitoring of Russia’s Economic Outlook” No. 3 (208), 2026, prepared by experts of the Gaidar Institute. Based on the findings of the International Trade Department, the publication contains a series of materials detailing key trends in foreign trade between Russia and China through 2025.
The monitoring shows that Russia significantly strengthened its position as a coal supplier to China by the end of 2025. According to TASS, the share of Russia in China's total coal imports reached 29%. This figure was the result not so much of a dramatic increase in physical quantities from Russia, but rather of a more significant reduction in China's coal purchases from other supplier countries.
The study by the Gaidar Institute also found that China remains Russia's largest trading partner. According to TASS publication, China accounted for approximately 27% of all Russian exports by the end of the year, a level comparable to the previous year. At the same time, China's share in Russian imports dropped by 5.8 p.p., reaching 39%. Experts attribute this to the dominance of Chinese products in the automobile segment: introduction of adjustments to the recycling fee resulted in a twofold reduction in the import of vehicles, which affected the overall statistics of imports from China, which in monetary terms fell to $101.8 bn.
Data on the non-ferrous metals market present a special interest. TASS noted that according to monitoring, aluminum exports from Russia to China increased by 94%, reaching 2.1 mn tons, while nickel shipments increased by 51% (to 88.000 tons). Experts of the International Trade Department also noted structural changes in copper supplies: along with China's growth in refined copper imports (+58%), shipments of Russian copper concentrates increased even more rapidly, increasing by 2.1 times. Meanwhile, ferrous metal exports from Russia to China, by contrast, showed a sharp decline, down 63% by the year-end.
Full version of the “Monitoring of Russia’s Economic Outlook” No.3 (208), 2026 can be found at the following link.