New Chinese online trade platform starts operations in Russia

MOSCOW - A new online trading platform offering a variety of goods from China has started operations in Russia.

Russia's largest electronic payment service Yandex would arrange trade settlements on the platform called TradeEase, which aimed at boosting cross-border trade, Yandex said in a statement Tuesday.

"In the first months of work, TradeEase plans to attract some 100,000 buyers from Russia, and one million by the end of the year. In the future, the platform will start selling Chinese goods in other countries of East Europe," the statement said.

Currently the platform offers electronic and household appliances, clothes, shoes, car accessories and spare parts, as well as other goods provided by 200 Chinese retailers, with prices denominated in Russian roubles.

The number of online retailers is expected to rise to 1,000 by the end of the year, Yandex said.

The TradeEase platform was tested in March with 10 large retailers in China's northeastern border city of Suifenhe and other cities in Heilongjiang province.

In 2014, Russia's domestic market of cross-border e-commerce amounted to $5 billion, according to Yandex.

AliExpress, launched by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, is already one of the most popular e-commerce platform in Russia with a monthly customer base estimated at 15.6 million people, according to Kommersant business daily.