BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- From January to April, Sino-Russian trade increased by 57 percent compared to the same period last year, totaling 16.2 billion U.S. dollars.

"Sino-Russian trade is currently in an active recovery phase and the growth rate in the first four months of this year is now exceeding expectations," said Sergey Tsyplakov, Russia's trade representative to China.

He also said that the reason trade grew by such a large percentage was "to some extent, because the starting point is too low." That is to say there was a significant decline of bilateral trade in 2009. He pointed out that if it were compared with 2008 figures, the current trade volume is basically at the same level.

It is reported that from January to April this year, China's exports to Russia amounted to 7.1 billion dollars, an increase of 45 percent compared to the same period last year, and Russia's exports to China totaled 9.14 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 68.5 percent.