China-ROK freight consolidation route launched in E. China's Zhejiang Yiwu

A foreign merchant (R) buys toys at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)

A freight consolidation route connecting Yiwu in east China's Zhejiang Province with the Republic of Korea (ROK) was launched on Tuesday in Yiwu, reported Chinanews.com.

On the day, 8 trucks loaded with daily necessities and other products departed from Yiwu for ports in east China's Shandong Province, where the export goods will be shipped to the ROK.

With the launch of the new route, the time needed for transporting goods from Yiwu to the ROK will be reduced to 3 days from about a week previously.

The shipping costs of Chinese and Korean traders will be cut by around 25 percent, according to Zhou Chengguang, general manager of Zhejiang Yihantong international supply chain management Co., Ltd., which is the new route's operator.

The ROK is a close trading partner of Yiwu. The value of bilateral trade amounted to approximately 10.9 billion yuan last year, jumping 65.3 percent year on year. Of the total, the exports reached 8.08 billion yuan, up 44.4 percent year on year, while the imports surged 183 percent year on year to 2.82 billion yuan, according to data from Yiwu customs authority.