Freight trains seen as vital trade artery

Steady growth in China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight train services, along with industrial upgrading and rising consumer demand in China and other Eurasian countries, is expected to further boost bilateral trade in the coming years, said market watchers and exporters on Friday.

Speaking at the ongoing 9th China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, which runs from Thursday to Monday, they said expanding cooperation in high-end manufacturing, green energy and the digital economy will advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and inject fresh momentum into regional economic integration and sustainable growth.

Wan Zhe, a professor of regional economic development at Beijing Normal University, said the complementarities between China's manufacturing capabilities and the development needs of Eurasian economies are becoming increasingly evident.

Beyond facilitating trade, China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight train services are helping integrate industrial and supply chains, enabling businesses to respond more quickly to market demand and supporting the growth of higher-value trade in sectors such as advanced manufacturing and clean energy, she said.

For example, Alashankou (Alataw Pass) railway port, located in Xinjiang's far northwestern corner, has handled more than 56,400 China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight train trips over the past 15 years, accounting for more than 30 percent of the national total, data from Urumqi Customs showed.

In the first five months of this year, 3,753 freight train services passed through the Alashankou railway port, up 15.4 percent year-on-year.

Currently, 128 freight train routes pass through the Alashankou railway port, linking China with 21 countries. The variety of cargo has expanded from electronic products and daily necessities in the early years to more than 200 categories of high value-added goods, including new energy vehicles and precision instruments, said Urumqi Customs.

In addition to shipping its products via China-Europe and China-Central Asia freight train services, Ningbo Asia Pulp and Paper Co, a pulp and paper manufacturer based in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, has in recent years seen robust demand for its products in Kazakhstan, particularly for food packaging paper.

Chen Xilin, the company's director of customs affairs, said the company's portfolio of high value-added specialty products, including food-grade coated kraft paper, aseptic liquid packaging paper and plastic-free cup paper, is well positioned to meet Kazakhstan's growing demand for premium packaging materials used for products sold both domestically and overseas.

Ningbo Asia Pulp and Paper Co's exports to Central Asian countries rose 36.09 percent year-on-year to 25.2 million yuan ($3.7 million) during the January-May period, while exports to Central and Eastern European countries totaled 113.6 million yuan, an increase of 6.35 percent on a yearly basis.

In the meantime, Ningbo's exports to Central Asian countries rose 43.97 percent year-on-year to 3.86 billion yuan, while exports to Central and Eastern European countries increased 8.2 percent to 22.2 billion yuan, statistics from Ningbo Customs showed.

The trend was also reflected in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province. Suzhou Samsung Electronics Co, a subsidiary of South Korea's Samsung Electronics, exported 6 million yuan worth of home appliances, including refrigerators and washing machines, to Tajikistan between January and May, up 140 percent year-on-year, according to Nanjing Customs.

Contact the writers at zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn