China's September exports to Russia show steepest decline in seven months

BEIJING, Oct 13 (Reuters) - China's yuan-denominated exports to Russia in September posted their biggest drop in seven months, accelerating the decline seen in August, Chinese customs data showed on Monday.

Outbound shipments to Russia contracted 21% in yuan terms last month to 63.11 billion yuan ($8.85 billion) from a year earlier, the lowest since February and a sixth straight monthly decline. Exports fell 16.4% in August.

For the first nine months of the year, China's exports to Russia fell 10.6%.

But China's imports from Russia swung back to growth last month, registering a 3.8% rise compared to a 17.8% contraction in August.

The customs administration did not give a data breakdown on China's trade with Russia on Monday.

Russia planned to increase LNG exports to China from the Arctic LNG 2 and Sakhalin 2 projects, and "serious joint progress" was underway, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA on October 1.

Alexei Miller, CEO of Russian gas corporation Gazprom GZAVI.MM, said a "legally binding memorandum" had been signed on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline during President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in September. Industry sources told Reuters earlier this month that Russia will need at least a decade to significantly increase natural gas exports to China as a result of the deal.

In the first nine months, China-Russia two-way trade value fell 8.6% to 1.17 trillion yuan.

($1 = 7.1310 Chinese yuan renminbi)