Why can inland cities engage in entrepot trade?

When people talk about international trade, what often comes to mind are the container clusters at Yangshan Port in Shanghai or the busy wharves in Shekou, Shenzhen. But you may not expect that in Ankang City, in the heart of the Qinling Mountains, a "quiet revolution" in entrepot trade is unfolding. There is no seaport here, yet "Made in China" products are reaching the world through a combination of land and air transportation — today, let's decrypt the unique foreign trade code of this inland city.

Different from traditional coastal entrepot trade, Ankang creatively transforms geographical disadvantages into advantages. Mr. Zhang's electronic component company is a typical case: Goods purchased from the Yangtze River Delta are first transported to Ankang Bonded Logistics Center, and then "packaged" and transported to Almaty, Kazakhstan via the China-Europe Railway Express, and then distributed to various Central Asian countries. This "China - Ankang - third country" route saves 18% of logistics costs compared to direct transportation.

• Cost advantage: Enjoy tax incentives for the development of the western region + policy superposition in the bonded area
• Timeliness guarantee: Form a "land-air combined transportation" fast track with Xi'an Airport
• Category characteristics: Selenium-rich foods, plush toys, and biomedical products have become the main forces

Data from Ankang Customs in 2023 shows that the entrepot trade volume increased by 217% year-on-year, and three phenomena are worth noting:

1. Cross-border e-commerce entrepot accounts for 34%. Ms. Li's team re-exports Yiwu small commodities to Eastern Europe through Ankang, and uses TikTok stores to achieve a 48-hour delivery commitment;

2. The investment in cold chain entrepot facilities has expanded the export radius of special agricultural products such as konjac products to the Middle East;

3. The intelligent warehousing system built by Zhongshitong has increased the cargo sorting efficiency to 90% of the level of coastal bonded warehouses.

Although the development is rapid, the shortage of professional talents remains a bottleneck. A supervisor of a logistics enterprise revealed: "The salary of compound talents who understand both multimodal transportation and are familiar with RCEP rules has exceeded the level of first-tier cities." In response, the local government is taking the following measures:

• Jointly establish an "International Dry Port Talent Class" with universities in Xi'an
• Set up a 20-million-yuan special subsidy to attract the return of practitioners from the coast
• Develop a "entrepot trade simulation sand table" training system

The judgment criteria are actually very simple: If your product meets the characteristics of "high added value, small volume, and multiple batches", or if you need to explore emerging markets along the "Belt and Road", you may wish to pay attention to these three signals:

• The Ankang - Chongqing railway-sea combined transportation channel is expected to open in Q3 of 2024

• The cold chain special line for Southeast Asian fruits to be transshipped through Ankang to Russia is under test

• Zhongshitong is about to launch an intelligent matching platform for entrepot trade

This city in the Qinba Mountain area is proving that on the chessboard of international trade, there are no permanent inland players. The next time you see a product marked "Made in China" but shipped from Almaty, it may carry the story of Ankang's entrepot trade.