The number of China-Europe freight trains  is expected to surge on the back of China’s optimized epidemic response and the shopping season of Christmas in Western countries, and some Chinese companies are actively booking containers for Europe-bound exports, industry insiders said on Tuesday.

“While the booking for containers of China-Europe freight trains starting from Changsha dropped slightly month-on-month in November, we have seen a sound growth momentum since December,” Lu Yinghuai, director of the Hunan Shipping Agent Association, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Lu projected that there may be a surge in the number of China-Europe freight trains at the end of 2022, thanks to favorable factors such as the Christmas holidays and Chinese businesses focusing on overseas markets amid the optimization of COVID-19 response measures.

“Currently, many small and medium-sized enterprises in Hunan have been actively booking containers, and most of the commodities for export are machinery components, consumer electronics, new-energy vehicle components and light industrial products,” he said.

Yu Zhengdong, manager of Chen’ge Daily Supplies in Yiwu, East China’s Zhejiang Province,said that his company is planning to ship a dozen containers via the China-Europe freight trains and ocean shipping, as the total amount of overseas orders has increased by around 30 percent.

Yu’s company mainly exports textile products which are sold to more than 40 countries and regions including the US and the EU.

“China’s continuous optimization of epidemic responses makes us more confident to reach deals with foreign clients, as we’re able to nail down delivery date and control production costs due to smooth logistics,” Yu said, noting that the company is actively making efforts to secure more face-to-face exchanges with foreign clients in 2023.

Given the stability and efficiency of the China-Europe freight trains, Yu said that he is optimistic about the company’s shipment volume next year.

Chinese local governments including East China’s Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Southwest China’s Sichuan, South China’s Guangdong provinces have organized business groups to fly overseas to win new orders.