$88 billion.. Moscow's exports for Chin in 2022

China's appetite for Russian oil, gas and coal has grown rapidly in the year since its invasion of Ukraine has roiled energy markets around the world, with its imports jumping by more than half.

Beijing's spending on Russian energy, including oil, petroleum products, coal and natural gas, swelled to $88 billion in the year ending February.

 $57 billion

According to Chinese customs figures, that compared with $57 billion in the previous 12 months, replacing other buyers who shunned Russian exports because of the war.

Beijing's growing share of Moscow's exports is key to the increasingly unequal relationship between China and Russia, which was made clear during President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow this week.

Russia receives a reliable source of funding for its war machine despite international sanctions, while its energy-hungry eastern neighbor basks in massive influxes of fossil fuels, often bought at discount prices.

Russia is China's largest oil supplier

Import data during this period revealed that Russia was the largest supplier of oil to China, replacing Saudi Arabia, and it was also the second largest exporter of coal after Indonesia.

It ranked third for liquefied natural gas after Australia and Qatar, and it should be noted that this classification does not include the volume of gas pumped through pipelines, which China has stopped detecting since the beginning of last year.

Oil imports from Russia jumped to 89.3 million tons since the invasion of Ukraine, up from 78.4 million tons in the comparison period, surpassing Saudi shipments of 86.8 million tons.

In a parallel context, Russian LNG imports rose 52% to 6.86 million tons, and coal purchases rose 33% to 76.4 million tons.