China's logistics sector rebounded in the third quarter of 2025, with the industry's prosperity index climbing 0.4 percentage points from July to September, data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) showed Saturday.
According to the CFLP, the logistics service price index increased by 0.9 percentage points over the quarter, with prices for road and water transportation services showing a rebound in September, effectively alleviating the sluggish market conditions seen earlier in the year.
The index for employees working in the logistics industry rose by a cumulative 2.1 percentage points in the third quarter, with 1.4 points of that growth in September alone, showed the data. It also showed that the strongest demand for new staff was seen in the water transport, air freight, and multimodal transport sectors.
"As social logistics demand continued to improve and was effectively released in September, logistics orders and related business activities picked up compared with the past. Under the circumstance of no significant relief from cost pressure, the level of corporate profitability improved compared to August, which has also eased the micromanagement pressure on logistics companies," said Liu Yuhang, director of the China Logistics Information Center.
In Q3, the main business profit index increased by 0.5 percentage points, reflecting the corporate operation and the level of profitability have grown in an adaptive pace.
However, the main business costs surged by nearly 1 percentage point over the same period. In the later period, the very sector generally remained in expansion range, with the business activity expectation index averaging 56 percent for the third quarter.
China's logistics sector shows steady recovery in Q3
