Hunan firm, Russian supermarket sign $1m trade deal
Russians could soon drink tea and eat pork from Ningxiang,Hunan province, while people in Hunan could soon get a taste of original vodka and chocolate from Russia.
A company from Ningxiang and the biggest supermarket in Russia recently signed a $1 million agreement on supplying tea and cans, Changsha Evening Newspaper reported.
XiPu Industrial, mainly focusing on import and export of agricultural and light industrial products in Ningxiang, also reached a tentative deal on 79 kinds of agricultural products and light industrial goods with Magnit, the biggest rural supermarket in Russia.
The international trade platform called "Hunan products into Russia" has had a great influence on Russia through online and offline promotions, attracting many Russian retail companies and platform providers to work on deals. Magnit also showed keen interest in many agricultural products and light industrial products by undertaking a field trip in Ningxiang on Sept 27.
"It's a great opportunity for us to explore Hunan and the Ningxiang economic development district to see products that our supermarket needs, and the government is also supporting us," said a top executive of Magnit. "It has made us believe that it's right to work together."
Ningxiang economic development zone has always been devoted to the development of openness and innovation and has recorded an increase of over 20 percent in foreign capital and foreign trade for many years.
XiPu Industrial is the forerunner of entrepreneurs involved in the Belt and Road Initiative. Its sale network includes 16 cities with population over a million in Russia, and also explores the national markets of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
Magnit is the biggest rural supermarket in Russia, with 14,059 retail stores, including 10,521 supermarkets, 237 markets, 194 family stores and 3,107 cosmetic outlets. In 2016 the merchandise trade between China and Magnit had reached $5 billion.
Xin Wen contributed to this story.
