China top apparel supplier for Russia even as exports decline

Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Russia highlighted the significance of economic relations between the two major economies, including trade. Jinping expressed China's readiness to expand cooperation with Russia in trade and other economic activities. However, export date indicates a downtrend in trade during the previous years, even as China remained a major apparel supplier for Russia. 

China's apparel exports to Russia amounted to $2.835 billion last year. The outbound shipment was recorded at $3.029 billion in 2021, slightly better than the trade of $2.814 billion in 2020 when COVID-19 lockdowns hit the world. Apparel exports to Russia have slowed down since 2018, reducing to $4.403 billion from $4.655 billion in 2017. It decreased sharply to $3.675 billion in 2019 and $2.814 billion in 2020, according to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro. However, trade improved in 2021 with the post-COVID-19 recovery. 

China's fabric exports to Russia also noticed volatility, peaking at $1.487 billion in 2018 after a rise from $1.381 billion in 2017. However, the shipment decreased to $779.446 million in 2020. It increased to $996.411 million in 2021 and $1.113 billion in 2022. 

China was the top apparel supplier for Russia in 2021, with a 32.60 per cent share in total apparel imports by Russia. However, Russia was only the fourteenth position in China's top apparel markets in 2021, with a 1.94 per cent share in China's total apparel that year. Russia slipped to the eighteenth position with a share of 1.71 per cent in China's total shipment of apparel during 2022, according to TexPro.