VODKA, ice cream, flour and soybean oil — commodities from Russia are all the rage among a large number of visitors to the ongoing China-Russia Expo held in Harbin, capital of Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.

One of the most sought-after Russian specialties at the expo is a type of chocolate candy made by Russia’s KDV Group. In China, the confectionery is widely known as “purple candies” because of its distinctive purple wrappers.

Purple candies have been catching on in China as many Chinese post photos and videos of them tasting the sweets on social network platforms and short video platforms.

For Lyu Wei, chairman of a trading company in Heilongjiang, the huge popularity of purple candies was unimaginable when his company started importing the product in 2014.

“Our import volume was very small at the beginning. We never expected purple candies to become such a hit in China,” Lyu said.

In 2015, Lyu’s company sold about 2,000 tons of purple candies across China. The number skyrocketed to nearly 20,000 tons last year, which brought in revenue of more than 400 million yuan (US$58 million).

“Many customers bought the candies to treat guests during traditional Chinese festivals, which are usually the busiest times for our company,” Lyu said, adding that his company would receive more than 40 containers of purple candies each day during the busy season.

Song Kui, president of the Contemporary China-Russia Regional Economy Research Institute in Heilongjiang, said the popularity of the purple candies in China is indicative of the latest trend of Sino-Russia bilateral trade.

Official data showed the bilateral trade volume between China and Russia last year exceeded US$100 billion, a record high. In particular, trade of agricultural products rose 31 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2018.

Lyu added that infrastructure construction in recent years has facilitated cross-border trade between China and Russia.

(Xinhua)