The trade volume between China and Russia rose 3.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, reaching 25.35 billion U.S. dollars despite the coronavirus pandemic, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Thursday.

China's imports from Russia contributed the majority of the bilateral trade in the first quarter. China imported 16.2 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods from Russia during the first three months, an increase of 17.3 percent year on year, with growth rate ranking first among major trading partners.

Exports to Russia, on the other hand, dropped 14.6 percent to stand at 9.15 billion U.S. dollars.

"With the current international pandemic continuing to spread and the severe impact on the world economy and trade, the achievements of China-Russia bilateral trade in the first quarter have not come easily, which shows the resilience and potential of China-Russia economic and trade relations," said Gao Feng, a MOFCOM spokesperson.

At the same time, the pandemic and the falling oil prices on trade have a lag effect, so attention still needs to be paid to the bilateral trade throughout the year, Gao added.

China's foreign trade dropped by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 943.2 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of this year, under the influence of COVID-19 disruptions. But bilateral trade with ASEAN and Belt and Road countries maintained growth during the period.