Farm traders see hope of growth

New Sino-Russian distribution center near the border expected to showcase agriculture of both countries

China and Russia have announced the opening of an agricultural sales and distribution center in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province that aims to become the largest of its kind for Sino-Russian farm trade.

The China Turnover Center has been established under the auspices of a joint project intended to promote the trade of high-quality agricultural products between the two countries.

The Sino-Russia High Quality Agricultural Products Interactive Trade Industry Belt Project has attracted agricultural enterprises from both countries, officials say.

Construction is continuing on the center within the project area in the Chinese city of Qiqihar, which is sponsoring the project.

Sino-Russian agricultural trade is expected to exceed $895 million after completion of the center, according to Qiqihar authorities. The 2014 figure was $869 million.

The project also includes the construction of the Sino-Russian High Quality Agricultural Products Trade and Exhibition Center in the Russian city of Khabarovsk, 30 kilometers from the Chinese border, Qiqihar officials say.

The project, in which both China and Russia have invested, benefits from the local Meilisi Daur district's 1,214 square kilometers of production area for fruit and vegetables, the existing 30,000 tons of capacity for processing and preservation, and the yearly production capacity of more than 1 million metric tons. The district is under Qiqihar's jurisdiction.

The first freight delivery from the center reached 300 tons of agricultural products, including potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots and other vegetables from Meilisi Daur district, apples from Liaoning province, pears from Hebei, tangerines from Fujian and other high-quality fruit and vegetables from around China.

Meng Xianmin, general manager of Heilongjiang Heiying Food Group, says she has seen a brighter future for the agricultural trade since the start of the Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative would use trade and investment to boost ties to China along ancient trade routes and elsewhere. Meng says she has been working in Sino-Russian trade since the 1990s. Heiying Food Group is a major agricultural franchise in Qiqihar and has its own agricultural distribution park in the city.

The project is providing huge opportunities for Chinese agricultural companies in Heilongjiang province, and Meng's company is one of the beneficiaries, officials say.

"Having cooperated with local farms, we signed contracts with farmers and stored large amount of agricultural products in the center before delivering them to Russia," Meng says. There is a strong demand in Russia for Chinese agricultural products, such as potatoes, cabbage, carrots and onions.

"In addition to local products, we also provided those from other cities or provinces, which amounted to 40 percent of our total. As the weather gets warmer, this percentage will be lower," she says.

Meng tells China Daily the company uses rental trucks for distribution because of the large volume of trade. The trucks were driven into Russia through the nearest border cities, Heihe and Blagoveshchensk.

There is great potential for growth of agricultural trade between China and Russia, says Li Jianmin, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Russia has lots of cultivated land, while China has advantages in labor, capital, agricultural technology and a vast market.

Heilongjiang has played a key role in Sino-Russian agricultural trade for decades, given the province's long border with Russia and its large agricultural industry.

Beijing Capital Agribusiness Group started a farm in Heilongjiang on Aug 21 with a production line that can process 300,000 tons of rice annually. The Beijing-based company has invested 114 million yuan ($17.5 million; 16.2 million euros) to develop the farm's comprehensive industrial chain.

Farm manager Gao Qingshan says the company has the largest unhusked rice processing center in the area, with the most advanced equipment of its kind in Qiqihar.

While the company's opening is a bellwether of the province's growing attractiveness for the agricultural industry, local authorities say they expected a bigger jump in Sino-Russian agricultural trade with the arrival of more high-quality enterprises at the turnover center.

Contact the writers through renqi@chinadaily.com.cn