Trade between North Korea and Russia dropped significantly this year, despite Pyongyang's efforts to step up economic cooperation with Moscow, data showed Thursday.   

Russia's exports to North Korea reached US$59.01 million in the first nine months of this year, down 10.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the data by the Vladivostok office of the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). 

In particular, Russia's exports of flour to North Korea plunged 72.2 percent on-year to $770,000.

Russia's imports from its neighbor also fell 7.9 percent on-year to $6.46 million during the January-September period.

Imports of North Korean electronics and coal also tumbled 61 percent and 44.6 percent, respectively, according to the data.

Russia's imports of North Korean nuclear reactors, boilers and other machinery shrank 57.1 percent on-year to reach $451,000.

Bucking the overall decline, Russia's imports of North Korea-made clothes soared 35.5 percent on-year to $3.61 million, maintaining an uptrend of recent years. 

North Korea has been intensifying efforts to expand economic cooperation with Russia, recently deciding to use the Russian ruble as a trade currency as well as launching a fledgling logistics project to link Russia's border city of Khasan to the North's port of Rajin. (Yonhap)