Logistics, as the lifeblood that facilitates the domestic circulation and supports the modern industrial system, has a direct impact on the vitality of the real economy in terms of cost. The recently held State Council executive meeting listened to a report on the implementation of actions to effectively reduce logistics costs for the whole society, and made a series of deployments to continuously promote logistics cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency enhancement, laying a clear path for the high-quality development of the logistics industry.
Zhou Zhicheng, Director of the Research Office of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, stated that since the launch of the effective action to reduce logistics costs for the whole society, relevant departments in China have successively introduced policy measures to reduce logistics costs. 31 provinces (regions, municipalities) have issued detailed implementation plans or task lists, forming a good policy environment of "central local coordination and top-down linkage".
In the first half of this year, the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP in China dropped to 14.1%, the lowest point in history since the establishment of logistics statistics system. ”Zhou Zhicheng predicts that by the end of the year, this ratio will drop below 14%. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, the cumulative savings in logistics costs will exceed 1.1 trillion yuan, contributing "real gold and silver" to the development of the real economy.
The steady reduction of logistics costs has also injected strong impetus into the expansion of the demand side of the logistics industry. Currently, the efficiency of the upstream and downstream production supply chain connection has significantly improved, and the endogenous driving force of enterprise operation is gradually increasing. The latest data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing shows that the new order index of China's logistics industry has been running steadily in the prosperous range for 8 consecutive months. From the perspective of segmented fields, the new order index of railway transportation industry, road transportation industry, air transportation industry, multimodal transport industry, and postal express industry in September all achieved a rebound of more than 0.5 percentage points month on month. The resilience and vitality of logistics market demand continue to be highlighted, providing strong support for the stable operation of the macro economy.
Taking the express delivery industry as an example, in the first three quarters, the express delivery market has flourished, providing strong support for the upgrading of domestic consumption towards "excellence". The volume of express delivery business is expected to reach around 145 billion pieces, and the revenue from express delivery business is expected to exceed one trillion yuan. Correspondingly, in the first three quarters, the online retail sales of physical goods are expected to exceed 9 trillion yuan, demonstrating the strong endogenous driving force of the Chinese economy. The express delivery industry effectively meets consumer demands such as holidays, graduation season, and school start season, deepens coordinated development with culture, tourism, and sports, enhances the breadth and depth of rural consumer services, and steadily expands the market size. Since March, the monthly business volume has exceeded 16 billion pieces.
Effectively reducing the logistics costs of the entire society is not achieved overnight. Zhou Zhicheng stated that effectively reducing the logistics costs of the entire society is a long-term systematic project that requires perseverance and long-term success. Hu Han, Deputy Chief Economist of China Logistics Information Center, stated that reducing logistics costs for the entire society is a systematic project that requires comprehensive consideration of different transportation modes, as well as different logistics links such as transportation, warehousing, and distribution, in order to improve the efficiency of logistics integration and transformation; Coordinate and promote the integration and innovation of logistics industry with manufacturing, commerce and other industries, and promote the coordinated development of modern logistics and major productivity layout; Promote integrated and coordinated development between regions and urban-rural areas, facilitate domestic and international logistics networks, and provide services to support high-quality development of the real economy.
In this regard, the meeting pointed out that we should continue to promote the reduction of logistics costs, improve quality and efficiency, accelerate the construction of a modern logistics system that is adapted to supply and demand, connected internally and externally, safe, efficient, intelligent and green, deepen the adjustment of cargo transportation structure, and strengthen the coordination and connection of multimodal transport management system, rules and standards. At the same time, it is emphasized to accelerate the construction and upgrading of logistics digital infrastructure, promote open and interconnected logistics data, promote deep integration of artificial intelligence and logistics, and promote the development of logistics digitization.
Although the proportion of multimodal transportation in our country has greatly increased, there is still a significant gap compared to foreign countries. The main problem still lies in various institutional barriers and rule constraints. Zhou Zhicheng pointed out that deep reforms and technological innovations in data openness and sharing, equipment standard compliance, and document standardization have enormous potential to promote logistics cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
The meeting also put forward clear requirements for the key supporting links of the development of the logistics industry, emphasizing the need to increase investment in logistics warehousing facilities and other fields, optimize layout, and improve functions, and increase support for short-term financing of logistics enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises, to promote the strengthening, optimization, and expansion of logistics entities.
Hu Han believes that with the implementation of these policy measures, as well as the continuous promotion of logistics digitization transformation and infrastructure construction, China's logistics industry will continue to break through on the road of reducing costs and improving quality and efficiency, providing more solid support for the high-quality development of the real economy.
