HARBIN, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Trade between Russia and China increased 44%, year-on-year, in 2007 to $48.2 billion, a Chinese government official said on Sunday.

Speaking at the 19th international fair for trade and economic cooperation in Harbin, Ling Ji, deputy director of the Europe department at China's Ministry of Commerce, said that bilateral trade between both countries continued to expand rapidly as it increased 39% in January-May 2008, year-on-year, to $22.1 billion.

Ji said that in 2007 China posted a surplus of $8.8 billion in trade with Russia for the first time in the past 15 years, adding that the country would also build up Russian imports to balance mutual trade.

Ji said the exports of Chinese electronics and engineering products to Russia in 2007 accounted for about 40% of total exports to Russia ($10.3 billion) while imports from Russia mostly included energy products and raw materials, which accounted for more than 90%.