entrepôt trade


entrepôt trade

a form of INTERNATIONAL TRADE, mainly confined to COMMODITIES such as tin and tea, where goods are temporarily imported into a country and then subsequently re-exported to other countries as part of a complex chain of physical distribution and financing deals. See FREEPORT.

entrepot trade

a commercial operation whereby goods are imported into a country and re-exported without distribution within the importing country (see IMPORTS, EXPORTS).

Entrepot transactions are confined in the main to COMMODITIES such as tea and tin, where a MIDDLEMAN located in a particular commodity centre (London, for example, in the case of tea and tin) can arrange for the sale of the commodity and its world-wide shipment to customer countries.