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, the
role of the transport-and-geographical factor in the modern economy remains a debatable question, and judgments arise
that the principle of ‘payment for distance’ is losing its decisive influence. At the same time, a sharp reduction in price of
maritime transport has led to an even greater transport-and-economic polarization of the world in the continental-oceanic
context: the main competitive advantages were gained by coastal countries and regions, while for inland countries high
transport costs remained a major obstacle to effective entry into the world market. Hence, the purpose of the study is to
establish, 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 has
revealed 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 of
significant transportation costs, which limit the movement of bulk goods over long distances due to a noticeable decrease
in export profitability. At the same time, more expensive types of Mongolian products (gold, clothing, wool, etc.) are
exported to distant countries. The authors have established the distribution and transportability of Mongolia's exports by
border checkpoints located on the border with Russia and China. Rail transport was found to play the dominant role in
the transportation of bulk cargoes of intracontinental countries. It is concluded that the main priority of Mongolia's export
specialization 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.