Russia payment hurdles with China partners intensified in August, sources say
Billions of yuan stuck in Russia-China transactions
Intermediaries' fees have risen to 6% from near zero - sources
Payments between large state companies are coming through
MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) -Some Russian companies are facing growing delays and rising costs on payments with trading partners in China, leaving transactions worth tens of billions of yuan in limbo, Russian sources with direct knowledge of the issue told Reuters.
Russian companies and officials for a few months have pointed to delays in transactions after Chinese banks tightened compliance following Western threats of secondary sanctions for dealing with Russia. The sources said the problem has intensified this month.
Chinese state banks are shutting down transactions with Russia "en masse" and billions of yuan worth of payments are held up, a source close to the government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
China is Russia's largest trading partner, accounting for a third of Russia's foreign trade last year and supplying items such as vital industrial equipment and consumer goods that help Russia weather Western sanctions. It also provides a lucrative market for many Russian exports that China relies on, from oil and gas to agricultural products.
After the U.S. Treasury in June threatened secondary sanctions on banks in China and other countries for dealing with Russia, Chinese banks started to take a very strict stance on transactions, said a source at one of Russia's leading e-commerce platforms. It sells a wide variety of consumer goods imported from China.
"At that moment, all cross-border payments to China stopped. We found solutions, but it took about three weeks, which is a very long time, trade volumes fell drastically during that time," said the source.
One working solution was to buy gold, move it to Hong Kong and sell it there, depositing cash in a local bank account, the person said.
Sources told Reuters that some Russian businesses have been using chains of intermediaries in third countries to handle their transactions and get around compliance checks run by Chinese banks. As a result, costs to process transactions have risen to as much as 6% of transaction payments, from close to zero before, they said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"For many small companies, this means a complete shutdown," another source close to the government said.
The Kremlin acknowledged the problem but said that economic cooperation is important for both countries and that solutions will be found.
"With such volumes and in such an unfriendly environment, it is impossible to avoid some problematic situations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement to Reuters.
"However, the truly partnership spirit of our relations allows us to discuss and resolve current issues constructively," he said.
Transactions with China are not of grave concern to top Russian leadership, however, because payments in priority areas are still proceeding smoothly, and there is political will from both sides, a banking source told Reuters.
Bilateral arrangements for large companies, such as Russia's commodity exporters and China's exporters of vital technologies, still work well, whereas smaller companies trading in consumer goods experience problems, sources said.
Russian exporters haven't experienced difficulties in receiving payments for commodities that China imports, such as oil or grain, another source close to the Russian government told Reuters.
Bilateral trade between Russia and China grew by 1.6% to $137 billion in the first half of 2024, according to China's official customs data, after hitting a record high $240 billion in 2023.
"Normal trade between China and Russia is consistent with WTO rules and market principles, is not directed against third parties and is not subject to interference or coercion by third parties," aChinese foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.
"We firmly oppose any illegal unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction" and will take all necessary measures to safeguard our legitimate rights and interests," the spokesman added.
Russia's imports from China fell by more than 1% to $62 billion in January-July 2024 due to payment problems, according to China's official statistics.
Russia's central bank forecasts the country's total imports from around the world will fall by as much as 3% this year.
"Imports will decrease in 2024 due to the strengthening of sanctions barriers related to payments and logistics," the central bank said, although it predicted that the situation would improve in the medium term, according to draft monetary policy guidelines published on Aug. 29.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in May, some local Chinese banks without a global business stepped in to handle bilateral payments. They would be out of the reach of Western sanctions enforcers.
However, sources pointed out that these banks often had outdated IT systems and lacked staff with the necessary skills.
The banking source said that cross-border couriers were shuttling transfer papers across the Russia-China border to get them physically stamped and signed by Chinese bankers.
"Until issues with payments are resolved at the state level, we cannot expect a dynamic inflow of investments from China," said Kirill Babaev, head of the China Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Research co-authored by Babaev and released this month highlights the risks posed to Russia's industrial sector where China has become a leading supplier.
"In today's situation, payment problems with Chinese banks particularly exacerbate this challenge, as there are no other major suppliers of many types of industrial equipment besides China at present," the research paper said.
Large companies in China as well as India are heavily dependent on American and European markets, Dmitry Birichevski, head of the economic department at Russia's foreign ministry, said at a conference in Moscow on Aug. 16.
"And they are being told, 'Guys, if you continue to work with Russia, we will cut off your access to our market and choke off your oxygen supply'," he said.
Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Susan Fenton
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
