Finance & economics | A slow train from China

China’s extraordinary export boom comes to an end

Covid-related supply bottlenecks meet slowing foreign demand

|HONG KONG

LAST MONTH a yellow-striped freight train rumbled into Budapest carrying solar-power equipment, air-conditioning kit and other bits and pieces. It had travelled for 16 days, all the way from Shandong, a province in eastern China. As part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, freight trains now serve more than 50 cities in Europe and Asia from Shandong. They are called “Qilu” trains, a nod to the ancient Qi and Lu kingdoms that flowered in that part of China in the Confucian era.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “A slow train from China”

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