History has repeated itself as Russia, after the 1990s, has returned to barter deals owing to geopolitical predicaments. Not a generic practice yet, but the initiation of barter deals commenced at the Kazan Expo business forum. Chinese companies cited settlement issues and Russian demands that they bring production to Russia as major issues hindering the development of bilateral trade.
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“We offer innovative cooperation models aimed at reducing settlement risks,” Xu Xinjing from Hainan Longpan Oilfield Technology Co. Ltd told Reuters through a translator, adding that “we offer a model of barter trade.”
In exchange for the power equipment, his company wants to receive Russian shipbuilding metal alloys like aluminium and steel.
“In the current conditions of limited payments, this provides new opportunities for enterprises in Russia and Asian countries, the Asian region. For example, we supply marine engines in exchange for special steel materials or aluminium alloys for shipbuilding from Russia,” he said.
Russia has been here before. In the 1990s, when the rouble collapsed and liquidity evaporated during hyperinflation, barter became a substitute currency. Electricity, raw materials, and even food were traded through sprawling, often chaotic networks. The current situation is not one of economic collapse, but of deliberate isolation.
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