Why Does Chongqing Become a Dark Horse in Entrepôt Trade?

When Mr. Zhang sent a batch of coffee beans purchased from Vietnam to Europe after changing the labels in Chongqing Bonded Area, he probably didn't expect that this mountain city was quietly rewriting the rules of international trade. Chongqing, which is not along the coast or border, had its entrepôt trade volume break through 120 billion yuan in 2022, becoming the "invisible champion" of foreign trade in the central and western regions. What kind of business code is hidden behind this?

The explosion of Chongqing's entrepôt trade is by no means accidental:

• Turning Geographical Disadvantages into Advantages: The Yangtze River Golden Waterway + China-Europe Railway Express + New Land-Sea Corridor form a "rail-water-air" multimodal transport network.
• Policy Innovation: The "collective declaration after separate delivery" model in the bonded area has increased the customs clearance efficiency by 40%.
• Cost Depression: Compared with coastal ports, the comprehensive logistics cost is reduced by 15 - 20%.

Different from traditional entrepôt trade, Chongqing has explored a characteristic path:

• Entrepôt Trade of Industrial Chains: Products such as notebook computers have realized the combined entrepôt trade of "complete machines + spare parts".
• Digital Empowerment: The online handling rate of the "single window" for international trade has reached 98%.
• Financial Support: The pilot project of facilitating cross-border settlement has covered 3,000 enterprises.

Despite the rapid development, Chongqing's entrepôt trade still faces:

• The international airline route network needs to be improved.
• There is a large gap in high-end logistics talents.
• The added value of transshipped goods needs to be increased.

The practice of Chongqing has proved that: Entrepôt trade is not the privilege of coastal areas. With the in-depth implementation of RCEP, this "8D magic city" may redefine the geographical map of international trade. Has your enterprise already noticed this new "inland access to the sea" channel? Welcome to leave a message to share your views.