On 12 February, the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing released the official performance data of the logistics sector across the country in 2024. The released data shows that the earnings of the sector grew steadily and reached 13.8 trillion RMB (1.89 trillion USD) in 2024, a 4.9% year-on-year (YoY) increase.
The total value of goods transported in 2024 was 360.6 trillion RMB (49.33 trillion USD), up 5.8% YoY. The rate of increase is also up 0.6 percentage points, meaning that the demand for logistics services is also growing. Industrial items contributed 77% of the value transported, also up 5.8%. In 2024, top logistics companies made up 16% of the market share and earned over 2 trillion RMB (273.60 billion USD).
Currently, there are over 900,000 logistics companies in China and 8.1 million self-employed service providers. 55 million people work in the industry, including logistic-related roles in other companies. Logistic-related enterprises hire over 15.5 million people directly, up from 11 million in 2018. In areas such as instant delivery, employment grew over 50% in the past year. China built over 2,500 warehouses overseas, as well as 151 national logistics hubs in the country.
The Federation also released data for January, which showed a slight slowdown compared to December. This is mostly attributed to the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday closures that same month. However, 1.15 billion parcels were received during the holiday, up 31% which is in line with 2024 levels. 782 million were delivered, up 26.7% YoY.
With less price competition and more usage of “new energy” (electric or hybrid) vehicles, the industry is growing more healthy and “green”. Also, e-commerce continues to contribute to social logistics in China with new modes such as instant delivery and livestream social commerce. Now that platforms are building their “local life” ecosystem across the country, the logistics industry might evolve further.
