China's industrial transformation and upgrading has boosted consumption and the growth of logistics demands, driving the development of the upstream and downstream sectors.
In August, the total logistics volume of the electronics and communication equipment manufacturing industry increased by 11.4 percent compared to the same period last year. It has maintained double-digit growth for 10 consecutive months.
Upstream monocrystalline silicon, polysilicon and other manufacturing materials logistics increased by 7.2 percent and 20.3 percent respectively. The logistics of midstream imported materials such as semiconductor devices and integrated circuits increased by about 14 percent.
Terminal logistics also performed well, with the retail logistics volume of communications equipment growing from 12.7 percent in July to 14.8 percent.
"The highlights in some fields should be noted. For example, the smart manufacturing sector was effectively supported by logistics. Besides, the import of integrated circuits and the retail logistics at the end of the supply chain for consumer electronics also saw double-digit growth," said Zhou Jianqin, director of the Logistics Department of the School of Economics and Management at Beijing Jiaotong University.
Along with improved logistics supply structure, China's logistics sector continued steady expansion in August. The index tracking the country's logistics market stood at 51.5 percent in August, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
China's industrial transformation drives growth of consumption, logistics demands
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global economic growth forecasts for 2026 to 3.1 percent in the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report published on Tuesday, while keeping its projection for 2027 at 3.2 percent.
This marks a deceleration from the estimated 3.4 percent growth achieved in 2025. Before the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, the bottom-up forecasts for global growth would have been 3.4 percent in 2026 and 3.2 percent in 2027.
The forecast incorporates the impact of the war and assumes that it will be limited in duration, intensity and scope, with disruptions fading by mid-2026.
Under the reference forecast, global headline inflation is expected to increase to 4.4 percent in 2026 and decline to 3.7 percent in 2027.
If the conflict and the ensuing spike in oil prices last longer, global economic growth in 2026 will fall to 2.5 percent, while global inflation will climb to 5.4 percent, according to the report.
In extreme cases, global economic growth in 2026 could drop to two percent, the report warned.
To be specific, the U.S. economy is projected to grow by 2.3 percent in 2026 and 2.1 percent in 2027, although higher trade barriers introduced since April 2025 are expected to continue to weigh on activity.
In the euro area, growth is projected to decline from 1.4 percent in 2025 to 1.1 percent in 2026 before edging up to 1.2 percent in 2027. The forecasts for 2026 and 2027 are each 0.2 percentage point lower than those compared in the January 2026 WEO Update.
The 2026 growth forecast for emerging market and developing economies is revised down by 0.3 percentage point, to 3.9 percent, while the outlook for advanced economies remains broadly unchanged. With risks still tilted to the downside since the January 2026 WEO Update, the IMF suggested a comprehensive policy package combining domestic measures with coordinated international actions to strengthen resilience and foster adaptability.
It also stated in the report that "trade restrictions play a limited role in correcting imbalances but can worsen output," and urged countries to cooperate and take coordinated actions to restore stability to international economic relations.
IMF lowers global growth forecast for 2026 to 3.1 pct
