China-Europe freight trains gather steam amid surge in B2B goods bought online

The China-Europe Railway Express left Chongqing in southwestern China last week, bound for Budapest, Hungary, making it the first train dedicated exclusively to delivering goods ordered by European businesses via e-commerce platforms, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The freight train, travelling on what is known as the Yuxinou international railway corridor, carried 33 million yuan (US$4.82 million) worth of commercial goods – including clothing, shoes and household goods – that European firms ordered from Chinese companies in business-to-business (B2B) transactions.

The dedicated train trip dovetails with the Chinese government’s plan to accelerate non-traditional export methods. In June, China announced it would boost B2B exports by streamlining its supply chains and reducing paperwork.

In August, China added Chongqing, along with 11 other cities, to its list of pilot e-commerce hubs that have been awarded preferential tax treatment to support their online trading operations.

Chinese customs authorities say the future looks bright for domestic exports in B2B cross-border e-commerce transactions via the railway. They note that it is a relatively flexible and convenient option for traders, especially given China’s push to reduce red tape by simplifying customs declarations, speeding up customs clearances, and adding more foreign warehouses to which traders can ship their goods before they are dispatched to end-users.

“The model of ‘cross-border e-commerce B2B, plus China-Europe trains, plus the use of foreign warehouses’ has become a new path for many goods export options,” the General Administration of Customs said in a statement. “Through this path, foreign trade companies can enter the global market more easily and effectively.”