When goods flow smoothly and all industries thrive, China is currently accelerating the establishment of a new development pattern in which the domestic circulation plays the dominant role, with domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. To ensure the seamless integration of these two circulations, an efficient and convenient modern distribution system is essential.

In the first ten months of this year, the total social logistics volume nationwide reached RMB 275.4 trillion, up 3.6% year on year. Achieving such a performance was no easy feat.

Unblock “The Aorta,” Ensuring Smooth “Microcirculation”

In March this year, due to the pandemic, travel was restricted and logistics were disrupted in some regions, leading to severe supply-chain bottlenecks. “Intestinal obstruction.”

How can we ensure the smooth flow of major logistics corridors while effectively containing the epidemic? The meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee has laid out plans to keep transportation and logistics running smoothly and to safeguard the stability of key industrial and supply chains.

Localities have issued and implemented a nationwide unified pass, established whitelist lists for key industries and foreign‑trade enterprises, and stepped up support for logistics hubs and logistics companies. A series of robust measures, working in concert, have helped stabilize and restore national logistics operations. In the first ten months, the country’s freight turnover increased year on year. 5.5%, with port container throughput up 4% year on year.

Zhang Jiangbo, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Economy and Trade at the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that these effective measures have unblocked logistics. The “aorta” has unblocked the terminal “microcirculation,” vigorously restoring normal logistics operations, effectively ensuring the supply of key production and daily‑life materials, and making a positive contribution to stabilizing industrial and supply chains, smoothing the circulation of the national economy, and supporting the overall economic stability.

Strong bones! Logistics hubs in 95 countries are interconnected to form a network.

Not long ago, the newly opened The “Two Bays Express Service” has linked the Chengdu–Chongqing and Beibu Gulf regions with the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area, reducing inter‑regional logistics lead times by nearly a week and cutting per TEU transportation costs by RMB 300–500.

This year, central budgetary investment is approximately With RMB 10 billion in funding, policy-based and development-oriented financial instruments have already disbursed over RMB 24 billion, leveraging the injection of social capital and providing a steady stream of resources to underpin logistics infrastructure. A brand-new logistics landscape is rapidly unfolding across China.

On this map, national logistics hubs are steadily expanding. This year, their number has increased to… With 95 facilities spanning the country and forming an interconnected network, logistics revenue grew 9.8% year-on-year in the first ten months, firmly reinforcing the backbone of the national distribution network.

Nationwide radiation Forty-one national backbone cold-chain logistics hubs have been completed and put into operation, shortening supply-chain links and reducing logistics costs. In the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Baoding cold-storage cluster, with a total storage capacity of 3 million cubic meters, achieves an annual throughput of 11 million tons of fresh agricultural products, sufficient to meet the daily needs of more than 400 million people.

The central and western regions are accelerating efforts to enhance connectivity with the outside world. Since the beginning of this year, Chongqing, Guizhou, Ningxia, Gansu, and other localities have already established new routes… Seventy-eight new rail lines have been opened—more than five times the total for all of last year. Leveraging their unique strengths, the central and western regions have developed distinctive industrial chains, enabling products to bypass the eastern coastal areas and reach international markets swiftly. Meanwhile, production inputs and consumer goods from around the world can now be delivered to inland hinterlands in as little as just over ten hours.

In the first ten months of this year, the central and western regions led the pack in foreign trade growth, posting robust overall expansion. Notably, both Xinjiang and Ningxia recorded foreign trade import and export growth rates exceeding… 50%, with Jiangxi’s growth rate exceeding 40%, outpacing the national average.

Wang Wei, Director of the Institute for Market Economy at the Development Research Center of the State Council, who has long been deeply engaged in research on the dual circulation strategy, believes that: “Since the beginning of this year, the state has prioritized accelerating the development of a hub‑plus‑corridor‑plus‑network system, placing greater emphasis on interconnecting networks, filling gaps in infrastructure, and strengthening supply chains. This effort is aimed at swiftly establishing a modern circulation service system that is both internally efficient and externally connected, laying the groundwork for smoothing the domestic economic loop and achieving high-quality development, while also providing a steady stream of new momentum for better integrating with international markets, participating in global competition, and advancing the dual circulation strategy—both domestic and international.”

Unblocking bottlenecks! Thousands of origin‑level warehouses have been built right at farmers’ doorsteps.

Not only is the skeletal infrastructure steadily being strengthened, but bottlenecks in the capillaries of China’s logistics network are also gradually being resolved. Thousands of origin‑based warehouses—integrating warehousing, processing, and express delivery—have been established right at farmers’ doorsteps, smoothing the last‑mile flow of agricultural products from villages into urban markets.

These days, Jiangxi’s Gannan navel oranges are hitting the market in large quantities. In this… In a production‑origin warehouse spanning over 3,000 square meters, an automated sorting system grades the fruit before it’s promptly packaged and shipped. Within minutes, each order is processed; at peak times, this facility can handle more than 40,000 orders per day. At its fastest, fresh navel oranges can make their way directly from the orchard to consumers’ tables in as little as six hours.

Lü Xiaoying, head of the Xunwu origin warehouse in Jiangxi, told reporters that, “In the past, fruit growers would pick their harvest and wait for buyers, with the product passing through numerous stages before reaching the market. Now, with orders in hand, they simply pick and ship directly—each variety fetches its own price, and there’s a clear pricing standard.”

Xunwu County in Jiangxi Province is one of the major production areas for Gannan navel oranges, with a planting area exceeding… 240,000 mu. In the past, Xunwu navel oranges were sold as “bulk commodities”: typically, a single wholesaler would contract an entire hillside, taking all the fruit—regardless of quality—and shipping it to wholesale markets, with pricing entirely in the hands of the wholesalers. Local grower Lai Yunhua explained: “We have no other sales channels. Wholesalers set the price, and though it’s very low, most farmers end up selling anyway. If they miss the peak marketing season, prices will only keep falling as time goes on.”

At the end of last year, the local government built this smart origin‑based warehouse directly at the source of supply, with digital technologies integrated across warehousing, packaging, and logistics. An automated sorting system grades navel oranges based on fruit diameter, weight, surface blemishes, and even sugar content, after which an automated packaging line automatically packages the graded fruit and ships it straight to consumers.

Ling Yongchun, the operations director of the Jiangxi Xunwu Agricultural Products Upstream Logistics Center, stated: “Using infrared spectroscopy, the sugar content of a navel orange can be directly measured and accurately classified into 12 grades, effectively mirroring the fruit’s actual taste profile.”

Fruits that have undergone grading are matched with appropriate sales channels. Some are sent to juice‑processing plants, others are sold on e‑commerce platforms, and still others make their way onto supermarket shelves—or even into gift boxes. Compared with the bulk‑purchase model, fruits that have been digitally sorted and graded can see their overall market selling prices rise by as much as… 40%.

Since the beginning of this year, as China’s three-tier county‑township‑village logistics and delivery system has continued to improve, cold-chain infrastructure for agricultural products and processing capabilities have steadily advanced, and last-mile delivery capacity has been significantly enhanced. As a result, origin‑based warehouses—such as the one in Xunwu that bring shipping operations directly to farmers’ fields—have now proliferated across the country.

Today, the daily volume of mail delivered nationwide is… More than 300 million parcels were handled, with one-third originating from or destined for rural areas. Over 100 demonstration projects have been launched to boost the outbound flow of agricultural products, each processing more than 10 million parcels. Express delivery volumes for local specialties such as Baise mangoes from Guangxi, Pingliang apples from Gansu, and Qinghua pepper from the Daliang Mountains in Sichuan have increased by 50% to 90%.
Boost Efficiency! Smart Logistics is Transforming Urban and Rural Life

With the widespread adoption of next-generation digital technologies, ubiquitous smart logistics is upending traditional logistics models, while new, efficient, and convenient business formats and models are continuously emerging, quietly transforming our daily lives.
Recently, the nation’s express delivery volume once again surpassed 100 billion parcels, with peak daily handling capacity reaching 552 million items. Many shipments no longer depart directly from the point of origin; instead, they are pre-positioned in tens of thousands of forward warehouses across the country. Once a customer places an order, the nearest warehouse receives the shipping instruction immediately.

In Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, Asia’s largest unmanned warehouse is operating around the clock. Few workers are to be seen here; instead, there are… 1,000 AGV robots have boosted sorting efficiency by more than threefold.

On the ceaselessly flowing logistics vehicles, satellite navigation is continuously recording and reporting location data in real time. The widespread adoption of digital warehouses, autonomous delivery vehicles, smart lockers, and other advanced technologies has enabled… “Next-day delivery” and even “same-day delivery” have become the norm.

In some cities, fresh-food micro-warehouses and errand‑running services have expanded into local communities, creating… “The 15-Minute Convenience Living Circle.” The instant‑delivery consumption model—“order online, ship from the store, and deliver within hours”—has become deeply embedded in residents’ daily lives. An increasing number of supermarkets, merchants, and small retail outlets are accelerating their integration of online and offline channels, expanding consumers’ shopping options. After placing an order on a smartphone, customers can have a wide range of products delivered to their door in as little as half an hour. A resident of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, said: “It’s truly convenient—not just fresh produce and everyday essentials, but now even smartphones, clothing, and even a phone charger or a box of medicine can be delivered instantly to your home.”

Since the beginning of this year, with the widespread adoption of new technologies such as mobile internet, big data, and the Internet of Things in the logistics sector, innovations like online freight platforms, digital warehouses, and contactless delivery have emerged. The “Internet Plus” model is giving rise to an array of new business forms and operational paradigms in logistics. Technologies and equipment such as automated sorting systems, unmanned warehouses, autonomous delivery vehicles, and logistics robots are being deployed at an accelerating pace, injecting fresh momentum into the development of modern logistics while robustly fostering new drivers of economic growth.

Going forward, the state will refine an intensive and efficient modern logistics service system to underpin the upgrading of the modern industrial framework. Zhang Jiangbo, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Economic and Trade at the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that efforts will be made to foster the integrated development of modern logistics with advanced manufacturing, modern commerce, and modern agriculture, while advancing the digital transformation and smart upgrading of logistics to better support the high-quality development of the real economy. Furthermore, the construction of a robust modern logistics infrastructure will be steadily promoted, with deepened initiatives to enhance quality, boost efficiency, and reduce costs, thereby elevating the scale, networking, organizational sophistication, and intensification of modern logistics.

Source: China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing website