The State Council executive meeting held on May 11 studied the work related to effectively reducing the logistics costs of the whole society. The meeting proposed that modern logistics runs through the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, connecting production and consumption, domestic trade and foreign trade. Reducing the logistics costs of the whole society is conducive to improving economic operation efficiency. We need to further optimize the structure of freight transportation, vigorously develop multimodal transportation, deepen reforms in comprehensive transportation systems, railway freight transportation, commercial circulation, etc., promote the digital and intelligent development and green transformation of logistics, address shortcomings in bulk commodity logistics, cold chain logistics, rural logistics, etc., and coordinately promote a substantial decline in logistics costs.
Liu Xiangdong, deputy director of the Economic Research Department of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Securities Daily reporter that modern logistics connects production and consumption. It is an important support for extending industrial chains, enhancing value chains, and building supply chains. It is also an important grasp for promoting the unimpeded circulation of the national economy. Reducing the logistics costs of the whole society is an inevitable requirement for building a unified national market.
"Taking effective measures to further reduce the social logistics costs can connect production and consumption on a larger scale, expand the scope of transactions, promote the deepening of division of labor, improve production efficiency, and promote wealth creation. It is conducive to improving economic operation efficiency, promoting reform and innovation in circulation management systems, accelerating the construction of a modern circulation system, and boosting high-quality economic development." Liu Xiangdong said.
Judging from the data released by the China Logistics Information Center, in the first quarter, the total social logistics costs were 4.3 trillion yuan. The ratio to GDP was 14.4%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared with the same period last year and the fourth quarter.
In terms of structure, transportation costs account for 53.0% of the total social logistics costs, storage costs account for 34.2%, and management costs account for 12.8%. Among the three costs, the storage link has stabilized and declined slightly. The transportation and management links have increased slightly. The social logistics link has transformed from static to dynamic, and the operation efficiency has stabilized and risen.
From the perspective of warehousing logistics, in March, the average inventory turnover frequency index was 55.8%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points from the previous month. As demand warmed up, the turnover efficiency of warehousing logistics recovered rapidly. From the perspective of industrial warehousing turnover, at the end of February, the proportion of inventory of industrial enterprises above designated size to operating income decreased by 3 percentage points, and the days of turnover of finished goods inventory decreased by 0.5 days year-on-year.
"The proportion of industrial inventory has stabilized and declined, helping to improve the overall social inventory level. The related capital occupation and the proportion of warehousing logistics storage costs have decreased accordingly." Meng Yuan, deputy director of the Logistics Statistics Department of the China Logistics Information Center, said. Generally speaking, with the implementation of relevant policies of the large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in action plan, coupled with the central government's repeated proposals to effectively reduce the logistics costs of the whole society, the logistics operation will continue its good recovery trend.
However, it is worth noting that the situation where enterprises increase in volume and revenue but not in profit still exists. Hu Han, an analyst at the China Logistics Information Center, told the Securities Daily reporter that it is necessary to continuously boost the business vitality of enterprises and take targeted measures to alleviate the tight situation of capital turnover.
Regarding how to coordinately promote a substantial decline in logistics costs, Liu Xiangdong said that to accelerate the substantial decline in social logistics costs, on the one hand, we need to coordinately promote the planning, construction, upgrading and transformation of urban commercial facilities, logistics facilities, and transportation infrastructure, promote the digital, intelligent, and green transformation of the logistics industry, unblock the obstruction of commodity and factor circulation between regions, and achieve integrated connection of national logistics facilities and rational layout of logistics hubs. On the other hand, we need to accelerate the improvement of the logistics trading market system, build national and regional commodity trading platforms, cultivate and develop new industries, new business forms, new models, and new driving forces for logistics and supply chains, promote cost reduction and efficiency increase for logistics enterprises, create more convenient and reliable international logistics channels, and build a green closed-loop supply chain.