China sharply reduces equipment, machinery supplies to Russia

China reduced direct supplies of machinery, equipment, mechanisms and their parts to Russia in March 2024 by 15 per cent compared to March 2023, to $2.9 billion, RBC writes with reference to the statistics of the General Customs Administration of China.

The last time a decrease in the supply of these goods was observed was in December 2022 - by 11 per cent in December 2021.

Exports of cars, trucks, tractors and their components from China to Russia also decreased by almost 20 per cent compared to March 2023 and totalled $1.4 billion.

The reason for the decline may be the growing sanctions threats from the US, which has promised to impose secondary sanctions against financial institutions involved in supply deals for the Russian defence industry.

In December 2023, the US threatened to impose secondary sanctions against Chinese banks and companies that supply goods to Russia, particularly numerically controlled machines, semiconductor materials, certain bearings, and advanced optical systems.