China's e-commerce logistics index up for 4 consecutive months

China's e-commerce logistics index gained for the fourth straight month in June, indicating a steady domestic demand recovery, industry data showed on Wednesday.

Last month, the index tracking e-commerce logistics activities came in at 114.8 points, up 0.9 points from May, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

Breaking down the data, the total business volume index stood at 132.9 points, a month-on-month increase of 3.1 points.

In terms of regions, the total business volume indexes of regions across China were all on the rise, with the western region reporting the largest growth and the eastern region's increase exceeding the national average. Notably, the rural e-commerce logistics business volume index reached 132.1 points, 2.4 points higher than May.

"E-commerce has played a significant role in promoting consumption. So the vitality of consumption is gradually increasing, and consumer expectations are also improving," said Liu Yuhang, director of China Logistics Information Center.

From the demand side, during the mid-year online shopping promotion in June, live streaming activities became more diverse and maintained a good growth momentum.

As for the supply side, e-commerce companies intensified efforts to meet the delivery needs of merchants and consumers, by means such as increasing the application of digital technology and providing customized services.

Experts predicted that the e-commerce logistics demand may slow down in July as the blowout mid-year e-commerce sales festival came to an end. However, driven by the rapid growth of consumer demand, the e-commerce logistics market is expected to remain very active.

China's e-commerce logistics index up for 4 consecutive months

Research, development and preparations for the crewed lunar landing phase of China's lunar exploration program is advancing steadily, according to the seventh Manned Space Symposium held in Beijing on Saturday.

Uncrewed test flights of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander are planned ahead of the crewed moon landing mission, the symposium said.

Under the previously announced plan, two Long March-10 carrier rockets will launch the Lanyue lunar lander and the Mengzhou spaceship in succession, then the two will conduct a rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.

The Mengzhou can carry three astronauts between Earth and lunar orbit, with two of them riding the Lanyue lunar lander between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

Aiming at the set goal of landing Chinese astronauts on the Moon, the program will subsequently carry out, as planned, the Long March-10 carrier rocket technology verification flight, the first flights of the Mengzhou spaceship and the Lanyue lunar lander, and important missions such as Chang'e-7.

"We will use the unmanned Lanyue lunar lander to verify all the key technologies throughout the entire crewed process as much as possible - including launch, entering the lunar orbit, rendezvous and docking with the Mengzhou spacecraft, landing and staying on the lunar surface, taking off again and re-docking with the crewed spaceship Mengzhou, so as to make sure the crewed flight will be safe and reliable," said Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's Manned Space Program and chief designer of the lunar exploration project.

China steadily advances lunar exploration program