China has imported cheap Russian energy recently, and have risen significantly even as western sanctions have little effect. Beijing splurged on Russian crude and natural gas from March this year, ignoring calls to implement sanctions from Washington, which cannot even get a drop of oil from Russia.
Punitive Measures Backfire on the West
One of the advantages of China is that its close ties to Moscow allow them to get a reasonable price. Because of this, their total trade had risen by 75% from February 24, when the special operation began, according to Bloomberg.
These figures include the latest data available about the purchases. The data covers the period from March to July, revealing an increase in Beijing's purchases of Russian crude, oil products, and gas from $20 billion to $35 billion.
The upsurge is the consequence of China's taking full advantage of Russia's energy export price reductions, which were also introduced to incentivize new clients after several Western states started to forgo Russian products as a consequence of Ukraine-related restrictions, reported RT.
In July, China bought a record 7.4 million tons of coal, 14% greater than at the same time last year, as Chinese imports of Russian energy increased substantially.
Due to all this, Moscow surpassed Indonesia as its primary fuel provider over the past month, moving Indonesia to third place. Other concerns like crude imports which have a slight increase from June yet were more at 8% higher than in the same month last year at 7.15 million.
Although the shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have risen by 20% annually, the above number does not incorporate LNG, which is piped in. Given that it is the main route for relocating fuel from Russia to China, the actual import volume may be much higher.
Other issues to consider include crude imports, which decreased slightly from June but were still 7.15 million tonnes, or 8%, greater than they were in the same month last year.
In total, China spent $7.2 billion in July on Russian fuel, up from $4.7 billion in the corresponding month of the previous year.
China Imports Russian Coal
The second-largest economy in the world saw an increase in power usage because of the extremely hot weather.
As said by data published by the General Administration of Customs last Tuesday, Chinese coal transactions reached 8.54 million tonnes, up from 7.42 million tonnes in July, representing a substantial year-over-year growth of 57%, per Azerbaycan.
Based on the reports, the monthly figure is the greatest since comparable statistical data was first released in 2017.
The heatwave and drought that struck western and southern China in late July are faulted for the exponential increase. Intense heat forced coal-fired power plants to expand production to accommodate the surge in air conditioning demand and fill the shortfall in hydroelectric power station supply.
Following the European Union's suspension of coal purchases from the continent, Russia dramatically increased sales of energy products, including thermal coal, to Asian customers.
Increased Chinese imports of Russian energy have attracted attention despite extreme sanctions, and India and China cannot deny that sanctions have failed.
