Bilateral trade between Russia and China saw significant growth in the first five months of the current year, the latest data from China’s General Administration of Customs shows.

According to the data, the total volume of trade between the two countries during the period amounted to $50.65 billion, marking year-on-year growth of 23.6%. In May alone, Russia-China trade turnover reached $10.449 billion.

Exports of Chinese goods to Russia increased by 35.3% to $22.921 billion, while imports of Russian products surged 15.4%, and reached $27.735 billion.

Mutual trade between the nations has returned to positive growth this year after pandemic-hit 2020 saw a nearly 3% year-on-year decline.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that despite the economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, trade between Russia and China still exceeded $100 billion, and reached $104 billion last year.

Putin added that Russia-China bilateral trade is expected to reach $200 billion by 2024.

China's imports grew at their fastest pace in 10 years in May, fuelled by surging demand for raw materials, although export growth slowed more than expected amid disruptions caused by COVID-19 cases at the country's major southern ports.

While a brisk recovery in developed markets has bolstered demand for Chinese products, a global semiconductor shortage, higher raw material and freight costs, logistics bottlenecks and a strengthening yuan have dimmed the outlook for the world's largest exporting nation.

China's exports in dollar terms in May grew 27.9% from a year earlier, slower than the 32.3% growth reported in April and missing analysts' forecast of 32.1%.

"Exports surprised a bit on the downside, maybe due to the COVID cases in Guangdong province which slowed down the turnover in Shenzhen and Guangzhou ports," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, adding that turnover at ports in Guangdong will likely remain slow in June.

Major shipping companies warned clients of worsening congestion at Shenzhen's Yantian port in Guangdong province after the discovery of several cases among port staff. read more

On the ground in Guangdong, factories have yet to report widespread capacity cuts over the outbreak but admitted efficiency issues as they tried to meet overseas demand.

Chen Linsheng, chief operating officer at Anlan, a Shenzhen-based manufacturer of skincare and beauty-care devices, told Reuters while there was no impact on production, staff are now subject to a series of COVID tests and not allowed back into the factory without a negative result.

"We are not allowed going out (of the city). We need to report in advance and cannot even go to Guangzhou or Foshan on our own," said Chen, adding that a lot of meetings have moved back online.

Besides the impact of COVID cases in Guangdong, the global chip shortage has started to hit all of China's export items related to semiconductors, said Iris Pang, Greater China chief economist at ING.

For example, auto processing products and parts, the biggest export item, fell 4% from a year earlier, Pang added.

Two-year average growth for exports dropped to 23.4% in May from 36.3% in April, pointing to weaker export momentum as the reopening of developed economies reduce demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and work-from-home (WFH) products, analysts at Nomura said in a note.

At the same time, the currency's extended rally in recent weeks to near three-year highs against the dollar could further saddle U.S. consumers with higher prices.

PRICE-DRIVEN SURGE

Imports increased 51.1% on year last month in dollar terms, the fastest growth since January 2011 but slower than the 51.5% rise tipped by the Reuters poll.

However, that figure -- a gauge of import values, not volumes -- was partly flattered by hot raw materials prices with demand for commodities such as coal, steel, iron ore and copper driven by easing pandemic lockdowns in many countries and ample global liquidity.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, said while import prices increased at a rapid pace, import volumes probably edged down in May.

"Once again, supply constraints are partly to blame – inbound shipments of semiconductors continued to drop back," he said. "So too did imports of industrial metals."

Indeed, iron ore futures dipped more than 3% on Monday as the trade data cast a shadow over demand prospects.

China posted a $45.53 billion trade surplus for the month, wider than the $42.86 billion surplus in April but less than the $50.5 billion expected.

The Biden administration is conducting a review of U.S.-China trade policy, ahead of the expiry of the Trump-era "Phase 1" deal at the end of 2021, which called for China to increase purchases of U.S. agricultural goods and manufactured products.

Since President Joe Biden took office in January, China has increased engagement with U.S. trade and economic chiefs. China's Vice Premier Liu He spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen last week, just days after talks with U.S. Trade chief Katherine Tai.

The United States, Britain and other large, rich nations reached a landmark deal on Saturday to squeeze more money out of multinational companies such as Amazon and Google and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens.

Hundreds of billions of dollars could flow into the coffers of governments left cash-strapped by the COVID-19 pandemic after the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%.

Facebook (FB.O) said it expected it would have to pay more tax, in more countries, as a result of the deal, which comes after eight years of talks that gained fresh impetus in recent months after proposals from U.S. President Joe Biden's new administration.

"G7 finance ministers have reached a historic agreement to reform the global tax system to make it fit for the global digital age," British finance minister Rishi Sunak said after chairing a two-day meeting in London.

The meeting, hosted at an ornate 19th-century mansion near Buckingham Palace in central London, was the first time finance ministers have met face-to-face since the start of the pandemic.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the "significant, unprecedented commitment" would end what she called a race to the bottom on global taxation.

German finance minister Olaf Scholz said the deal was "bad news for tax havens around the world".

Yellen also saw the G7 meeting as marking a return to multilateralism under Biden and a contrast to the approach of U.S. President Donald Trump, who alienated many U.S. allies.

"What I've seen during my time at this G7 is deep collaboration and a desire to coordinate and address a much broader range of global problems," she said.

Ministers also agreed to move towards making companies declare their environmental impact in a more standard way so investors can decided more easily whether to fund them, a key goal for Britain.

TAXING TIMES

EU's Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe, World Bank President David Malpass, Italy's Finance Minister Daniele Franco, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, Canada's Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva, Germany's Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Mathias Cormann, Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso pose for a family photo during the G7 finance ministers meeting at Lancaster House in London, Britain, June 5, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Current global tax rules date back to the 1920s and struggle with multinational tech giants that sell services remotely and attribute much of their profits to intellectual property held in low-tax jurisdictions.

Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice-president for global affairs and a former British deputy prime minister, said: "We want the international tax reform process to succeed and recognise this could mean Facebook paying more tax, and in different places."

But Italy, which will seek wider international backing for the plans at a meeting of the G20 in Venice next month, said the proposals were not just aimed at U.S. firms.

Yellen said European countries would scrap existing digital services taxes which the United States says discriminate against U.S. businesses as the new global rules go into effect.

"There is broad agreement that these two things go hand in hand," she said.

Key details remain to be negotiated over the coming months. Saturday's agreement says only "the largest and most profitable multinational enterprises" would be affected.

European countries had been concerned that this could exclude Amazon (AMZN.O) - which has lower profit margins than most tech companies - but Yellen said she expected it would be included.

How tax revenues will be split is not finalised either, and any deal will also need to pass the U.S. Congress.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he would push for a higher minimum tax, calling 15% "a starting point".

Some campaign groups also condemned what they saw as a lack of ambition. "They are setting the bar so low that companies can just step over it," Oxfam's head of inequality policy, Max Lawson, said.

But Irish finance minister Paschal Donohoe, whose country is potentially affected because of its 12.5% tax rate, said any global deal also needed to take account of smaller nations.

The G7 includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada.

Bitcoin and most other top cryptocurrencies fell on Sunday on concerns that there may be a further crackdown on the industry in China and as a report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. served as a reminder that institutional adoption may be a long process.

Bitcoin, Ether and the rest of the top 30 cryptocurrencies excluding stablecoins declined in the past 24 hours as of 1:40 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to pricing data from CoinGecko. Chinese social-media service Weibo suspended some crypto-related accounts -- when trying to view them, a message comes up that says the accounts have been reported for violations of laws, regulations or Weibo rules.

Weibo’s media relations officer didn’t immediately reply to an email request for comment on Sunday. The micro-blogging service took similar action in 2019 when it suspended the accounts of exchange operator Binance Holdings Ltd. and blockchain platform Tron.

Chinese authorities have recently cautioned on crypto trading and Bitcoin mining efforts are being curtailed, which have put pressure on prices. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is also struggling with technical levels, remaining below its 20-day and 200-day moving averages.

Bitcoin “remains vulnerable to a test of critical support at $29,000 with downside to risk to $20,000,” Evercore ISI technical strategist Rich Ross wrote in a note Friday. He said he’s a “seller” currently, with a $41,000 buy stop.

Bitcoin remains below its 200-day average and near the 20-day

Bitcoin went on a furious rally at the beginning of the year, surging to almost $65,000 amid enthusiasm about institutional adoption, the idea that it’s a store of value akin to “digital gold,” and with endorsements from big-name investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stan Druckenmiller.

The cryptocurrency has retreated by more than $25,000 since then and was recently trading around $36,100. It’s still up about 25% this year.

In a development that undermines the narrative about institutional adoption, a Goldman Sachs note on Saturday showed that not everyone in finance is eager to jump in.

“We held two CIO roundtable sessions earlier this week, which were attended by 25 CIOs from various long-only and hedge funds,” the strategists led by Timothy Moe wrote. “Their most favorite is Growth style but least favorite on Bitcoin.”

relates to Bitcoin Drops Amid Weibo Crypto Suspensions, Goldman CIO Survey

Still, support for Bitcoin continues to grow in some quarters. In comments from a video broadcast at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miamia, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he plans to make Bitcoin legal tender in the country, while San Francisco-based Square Inc. said it will invest $5 million to build a solar-powered Bitcoin mining facility. The project will be constructed at a Blockstream Mining site in the U.S. through a partnership with the blockchain technology provider.

Separately, a video posted on YouTube on Friday that appears to be from the group “Anonymous” criticizes Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Office Elon Musk for a variety of reasons including his social-media commentary about Bitcoin. Musk, for his part, continued to tweet actively into the weekend about crypto and other matters.

— With assistance by Tongjian Dong

June 6 (Xinhua) -- The ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP) has decided to move its presidential campaign online, by using only online platforms and media amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

"Starting from today, the MPP is suspending any form of election campaigning that could lead to surging COVID-19 infections. The election campaign will continue only online and in the media in the remaining days," announced Dashzeveg Amarbayasgalan, general secretary of the MPP, on Facebook.

The country's presidential election will be held Wednesday with three candidates registered for the race, namely Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, MPP chairman, Sodnomzundui Erdene, former chairman of the opposition Democratic Party, and Dangaasuren Enkhbat, former legislator.

The MPP's new move came after Enkhbat, who is the candidate from the political alliance the Right Person Electorate Coalition, has tested positive and urged his two rivals to turn campaigns online.

Mongolia has seen a recent increase in daily test positivity rate, and the report of over 1,000 infections on a daily basis.

Please join us for the 14th International Conference on Mine Closure 2021 (ICMC) between 17-19 August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the first event in Asia! The event will be in hybrid mode as both in virtual and physical formats.

The Conference will be co-hosted by the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG), the University of Reading and the Qualified Mining Consulting (QMC). The event is supported by the Embassies of Australia, the UK in Ulaanbaatar and the Mongolian Business Database.

The annual ICMC is the global mining industry’s flagship event. There will be opportunities to network, explore the latest mine closure methodologies, best practices, achievements and technique breakthroughs.

Attendees will be invited to exchange ideas about their work and learn about new developments in mine closure. International experts will deliver enriching seminars on the latest mine closure planning, technology and processes, supporting you to get the most out of mineral rich Mongolia.

The conference will focus upon the following themes:

Beneficial land use of mine sites and ecosystem restoration

Financing of mine closure

Community engagement in mine closure and corporate social responsibility

Long-term surface and ground water management of closed sites

Mine closure risks and liability

Regulatory issues and global standards on Mine closure and transfer of care

Mine closure and progressive rehabilitation

Mine closure and tailings dams

Monitoring after mine closure

Sponsorship opportunities

Please get in touch if you would like to promote your company’s product or service. We have a variety of sponsorship and exhibition opportunities available and are actively seeking to form new partnerships.

Visit www.mineclosure2021.com for more information. Contact us via phone: (+976) 99066062, 99119657, 99055212. Email: mineclosure2021@qmc.mn for general inquiries.

The registrations will close on July 30. 2021

June 6 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's health ministry on Sunday reported four deaths from COVID-19, including an eight-year-old girl, the country's first child fatality from the virus.

So far the disease has claimed 325 lives in Mongolia since the country's first case was reported in March last year.

The national tally climbed to 65,266 with 1,288 more reported, and total recoveries rose to 53,780 as 185 more patients had recovered, according to the ministry.

The daily test positivity rate of COVID-19 has been increasing significantly, the ministry said, urging the public to follow health guidelines.

The Asian country launched a nationwide vaccination campaign against COVID-19 in late February, with the aim of covering at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.

More than 1,510,000 Mongolians have been fully vaccinated, according to the ministry.

Electronic visa application system evisa.mn has been put into service from June 1, 2021 within the amendments made to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Nationals, reports Immigration Agency of Mongolia (IAM).

According to the amendments, this service is designed for foreigners, who want to travel to Mongolia for tourism purposes and for those who need an e-visa from abroad.

In connection with this activity, IAM's website for electronic visa issuance services has been upgraded; thus, individuals and businesses that invite foreigners can use eimmigration.mn to receive 11 types of visa services online.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have chosen a top U.S. coal-producing state as the location for a new kind of nuclear reactor, using Natrium as its power source.

The natrium power plant, with an anticipated cost of $1 billion, will repurpose a coal plant for its operations in Wyoming, with the exact location to be announced by the end of 2021. The partners hope this will help the U.S. on its way to a carbon-zero future.

The development consists of a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten salt-based energy storage that could boost the system’s power output to 500MW during peak power demand. This would provide enough energy to power as many as 400,000 homes.

The project will be overseen by TerraPower and Pacificorp, founded by Gates and Buffett respectively. TerraPower has been key in exploring the potential of Natrium power as the US energy department awarded the company $80 million in funding last year to demonstrate the potential power of this chemical.

“We think Natrium will be a game-changer for the energy industry,” Gates stated of the project.

President and CEO of TerraPower, Chris Levesque, adds “We need this kind of clean energy on the grid in the 2030s.”

Some experts are critiquing the plans, warning that advanced reactors may present a higher risk than their conventional counterparts. Reactor fuel needs to be enriched at a higher rate than conventional fuel, making the supply chain a potential target for groups trying to build a crude nuclear weapon.

However, advanced nuclear reactors have simpler designs than typical reactors, making them easier to build, more fuel-efficient, cheaper, and safer.

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Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon believes “This is our fastest and clearest course to becoming carbon negative,” stating, "Nuclear power is clearly a part of my all-of-the-above strategy for energy.”

The project is expected to provide on-demand, no-carbon energy, as well as providing hundreds of short and long-term jobs in construction and plant operations. This will give a much-needed boost to Wyoming’s job sector following two decades of coal plant closures.

While two out of every three nuclear power reactors globally are scheduled for retirement in the near future, the U.S. is still investing heavily in nuclear power. For example, the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia is expected to commence commercial operation in November 2021, at an estimated cost of $28 billion. It seems that despite a movement away from nuclear power in recent years we cannot overlook its potential as a global energy leader.

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Following a decade of decline after major disasters such as Fukushima in 2011, which obliterated Japan’s nuclear power program, two countries, Belarus and the United Arab Emirates have recently commissioned new nuclear power plants. In addition, Japan is aiming to reintroduce nuclear capacities, with at least 5 safety-upgraded reactors expected to be recommissioned by 2025.

The Middle East and South Asia are expected to boost their nuclear power production by the end of the decade, with Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh, China, and India all investing in nuclear reactors. This has sent uranium stocks up since late 2020, with two leading US-listed uranium miners, Uranium Energy Corp. and Cameco Corporation, both experiencing a steady climb.

Despite the recent decline in nuclear power, plans to invest in the recommissioning of existing reactors and develop new ones suggest that nuclear energy is not yet dead. Further, if Gates and Buffett are successful in developing their Natrium advanced reactor is could lead the way for future projects.

The volume of trade between Russia and China is expected to amount to $200 billion in three years, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who says relations between Moscow and Beijing are now at an unprecedented level.

“I think we could reach the level of $200 billion, as we agreed, as soon as by 2024,” Putin said, speaking at an annual economic forum in St. Petersburg.

He pointed out that Russia-China trade turnover had totaled $104 billion by the end of 2020, exceeding the targeted $100 billion.

Although the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic didn’t prevent the mutual trade volume from reaching this milestone, the turnover in 2020 was down almost 3% against the previous pre-pandemic year.

Nonetheless, trade between the two nations saw a nearly 20% year-on-year surge in the first four months of 2021, reaching $40.207 billion.