BEIJING — China and Russia are hoped to fully tap their cooperation potential in soybean trade in line with market rules and advance a long-term and steady cooperation across the whole industry chain, a commerce official said on Aug 1.

Currently, most of Russia's soybean exports to China came from the Far East. China welcomes the soybean production bases of Russia in Europe to expand collaboration with China, including exporting its soybeans to China's coastal provinces with strong processing capacity, Gao Feng, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, told a press conference.

Gao said this is an important move to implement the consensus of the two heads of state that will effectively facilitate bilateral soybean trade.

Last year, China imported 817,000 tonnes of soybeans from Russia, up 64.7 percent year-on-year. In July 2019, Chinese companies imported 4,400 tonnes of soybeans from Russia by sea.

According to a recent statement of the General Administration of Customs, the origins of Russia's soybean exports to China have been expanded to all parts of Russia while waterway and sea transport means has been newly added.

Data from the customs showed bilateral agricultural trade hit a record high of $5 billion in 2018, up 28.2 percent year-on-year. Of this total, China imported $3.21 billion worth of agricultural products from Russia, up 51.3 percent year-on-year.