Automotive Exports March 2021

Railway exports
to slash costs,
help Turkish
goods earn
Chinese market
The decrease in the railway export time
from Turkey to China – an opportunitybearing
market for Turkish products – to
12 days will pave the way for fresh fruit
and vegetable sales to the Asian country
while providing a downward trend in costs,
Turkey-China Business Development and
Support Association Chairman Ihsan Beşer
said.
Beşer told that the association that was
established on Nov. 29, 2018, aimed
to enhance economic, commercial and
cultural cooperation between the two
countries.
He said that they have been working
on ways to develop strong ties for both
countries’ businesspeople.
The Turkish official noted that China’s
Belt and Road (BIR) initiative that was
kicked off to produce an infrastructure
and transportation network from Asia to
Europe and the Middle East already made
it easier to export to China.
Beşer emphasized that there are several
product groups related to different sectors
in Turkey that came to the fore with their
export potential to China, including food,
textile, automotive, natural resources
products, home appliances, agriculture
machines, phone and recording devices.
The maritime trade route to China from
Turkey enables 35 to 45 days for the
transportation of the goods which is now
12 days with the export trains.
The first train carrying goods from Turkey
to China set off from Istanbul on Dec. 4,
covering a distance of 8,693 kilometers
across Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, the
Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan to reach the
Chinese city of Xi’an, and completed its
historic trip on Dec. 19.
Meanwhile, on Jan. 29, Turkey also sent
off two export trains, one headed to
Russia and the other to China, using the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway from the
capital Ankara. The train to Russia was
the first block train to use the route while
the second one, which is carrying boron
containers, was the third China-bound
freight train.
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