China-EU trade & investment consultation mechanism debuts opening new cross-border fragrance industry cooperation window

Chengdu-Europe Train Launches First Special Train for Fragrance and Beauty Products from Dourges, France - Bidirectional Channel Established, Bringing New Opportunities for Chinese and Foreign Fragrance Industries

With the long whistle blowing, the first "Dourges-Chengdu Beauty Train" of the Chengdu-Europe Railway, loaded with high-end French fragrances, essences, and cosmetics, officially departed from Dourges, France, today, heading towards China. This marks the first time that the Chengdu-Europe Railway has opened a customized transportation train for high-end European fragrance products to China, opening up a new and efficient land route for the two-way flow of the fragrance and beauty industries between China and France.

Addressing logistics pain points, French fragrances enter China to "reduce costs and speed up delivery"

For a long time, the transportation of imported French fragrances to China has faced a dilemma: the sea transportation cycle can last for over 40 days, and fluctuations in temperature and humidity are prone to causing perfume deterioration, while the cost of air transportation is unaffordable for small and niche salon fragrance brands. The newly opened dedicated railway train has a delivery time that is about one-fourth of sea transportation and a freight cost that is only one-fifth of air transportation. Furthermore, it has a low cargo damage rate and relatively controllable temperature and humidity, making it highly suitable for the cross-border transportation needs of high-value-added fragile products such as fragrances.
Relying on the rapid customs clearance capabilities of Chengdu International Railway Port and the bonded warehousing advantages of the comprehensive bonded zone, French classic fragrance and niche salon fragrance brands are expected to distribute their products in domestic duty-free shops, department stores, and e-commerce channels at a lower cost and faster pace, further expanding the "cake" of China's high-end fragrance consumption market.

Forced upgrading + reverse overseas expansion, China-Chic fragrance drives towards Western Europe

The special train will carry domestic home furnishing products, cross-border e-commerce goods, and China-Chic brand products to France. For domestic fragrance enterprises, the two-way channel brings dual benefits: on the one hand, more high-quality French fragrance raw materials and competitive products are accelerating their entry into the Chinese market, which will force local fragrance brands to upgrade and iterate in terms of fragrance blending technology, packaging texture, and brand narrative, thereby enhancing the overall industry level; on the other hand, the "domestic goods going global" outbound slots provide China-Chic fragrance brands with a low-cost and timely Western European landing channel. Coupled with the mature logistics network of the China-Europe freight train, it helps domestic fragrance brands leverage this opportunity to explore the niche fragrance market in France and Western Europe, and participate in the global fragrance value chain division of labor.

The Chengdu International Railway Port stated that it will continue to optimize the cargo source structure of the China-France freight trains, increase the frequency of Western European trips, enrich the products of special trains, and create a more stable two-way trade channel for Chinese and French fragrances and high-end consumer goods. For the Chinese fragrance industry, which is currently experiencing rapid growth, this "steel camel team" not only lays out a logistics line, but also provides a new stage for Chinese and foreign fragrance brands to compete and prosper together.