China's logistics sector shows steady growth in first four months

China

China's logistics sector shows steady growth in first four months

2025-06-03 09:13 Last Updated At：16:27

China's logistics industry showed steady growth and strong resilience in the first four months of this year despite external economic pressures, according to the data released Tuesday by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

China's total social logistics reached 115.3 trillion yuan (16 trillion U.S. dollars) in the January to April period, marking a year-on-year increase of 5.6 percent, the CFLP reported.

The figures reflected a stable rise in both production and consumption demand, with strengthened support for domestic logistics operations.

Specifically, industrial goods logistics grew 5.7 percent year on year during the same period. In April, 87.8 percent of major industry sectors recorded growth in logistics demand. Notably, logistics related to equipment manufacturing rose by 9.8 percent, while those tied to high-tech manufacturing surged 10 percent.

"The demand for logistics related to smart manufacturing and associated manufacturing sectors, as well as for finished products, has continued to grow, reflecting the strong resilience of the country's overall economy," said Liu Yuhang, director of the China Logistics Information Center.

Consumer-driven logistics also saw an uplift. From January to April, logistics volume for goods going to businesses and individuals increased by 5.9 percent, up 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter of this year.

Policies aimed at boosting domestic demand such as trade-in programs for new consumer goods and emerging sectors like livestream e-commerce contributed to the growth.

Online retail performed especially well, with physical goods sold online increasing 5.8 percent year on year, up 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter.

"Improving logistics processes has cut down on unnecessary steps, enabling faster response times and enhancing the efficiency and structure of consumption, which is further accelerating consumption upgrades," said Jiang Xu, dean of the School of Logistics at Beijing Wuzi University.

On the trade front, from January to April, the logistics volume for imported goods fell 4.1 percent in the first four months, though the decline narrowed by 1 percentage point compared to the first quarter.

Among electromechanical products, the logistics volume of imported machine tools and integrated circuits continued to grow, rising by 22.9 percent and 8 percent year on year, respectively.

China aims for secure, reliable supply of AI core tech by 2027

China aims to achieve secure and reliable supply of key core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by 2027, with its industrial scale and empowerment level remaining among the world's forefront, according to a recent government action plan.

The plan, jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines an ambitious push to deeply integrate AI with the manufacturing sector, foster new quality productive forces and comprehensively empower new industrialization. By 2027, the plan targets the deep application of three to five general-purpose large AI models in manufacturing, the development of specialized, full-coverage industry-specific large models, the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and the promotion of 500 typical application scenarios.

It also aims to cultivate two to three globally influential ecosystem-leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, and a group of enabling service providers proficient in both AI technology and industry know-how.

Furthermore, China plans to build a world-leading open-source ecosystem, enhance security governance capabilities, and contribute Chinese solutions to global AI development.

The document outlines measures including promoting the coordinated development of AI chips' hardware and software, supporting innovations in model training and inference methods, fostering key industry-specific large models, and deeply embedding large model technology into core production processes.

The plan also emphasizes making breakthroughs in key technologies such as security protection for industrial model algorithms and training data protection.