DEPENDENCE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL STRUCTURE OF INTRACONTINENTAL COUNTRIES’ EXPORTS ON THE TRANSPORTABILITY OF GOODS (A CASE STUDY OF MONGOLIA)

Abstract

Following the reduction in transportation costs that occurred in the second half of the 20th century, therole of the transport-and-geographical factor in the modern economy remains a debatable question, and judgments arisethat the principle of ‘payment for distance’ is losing its decisive influence. At the same time, a sharp reduction in price ofmaritime transport has led to an even greater transport-and-economic polarization of the world in the continental-oceaniccontext: the main competitive advantages were gained by coastal countries and regions, while for inland countries hightransport costs remained a major obstacle to effective entry into the world market. Hence, the purpose of the study is toestablish, using the example of Mongolia, the dependence of the geographical structure of intracontinental countries’exports on the transportability of goods. The authors proposed their own methodology to assess the distribution of Mongolia's export goods by remoteness zones with relative transportability of the goods taken into account. The study hasrevealed that low-transportable mineral raw materials (coal, iron ore, oil, ores, and concentrates of a number of nonferrous metals) are transported almost exclusively to neighboring countries, mainly to China. This is due to the impact ofsignificant transportation costs, which limit the movement of bulk goods over long distances due to a noticeable decreasein export profitability. At the same time, more expensive types of Mongolian products (gold, clothing, wool, etc.) areexported to distant countries. The authors have established the distribution and transportability of Mongolia's exports byborder checkpoints located on the border with Russia and China. Rail transport was found to play the dominant role inthe transportation of bulk cargoes of intracontinental countries. It is concluded that the main priority of Mongolia's exportspecialization in the long term isto deepen the processing of mineral raw materials into semi-finished or finished products,which will extend the cost-effective distances of their transportation and expand the size of sales markets.