Sberbank has issued its first yuan-denominated letters of credit that involve funding from the Export-Import Bank of China to Russia’s largest pharmaceutical company.

Pharmasyntez, Russia’s leading drug manufacturer, appealed to Sberbank with a request for funding credit guarantees in Chinese national currency as part of contracts for the supply of imported pharmaceutical products worth over 29 million yuan ($4.6 million), Sberbank said in a statement Friday.