The Chinese central government says it is accelerating efforts to create a logistics system covering the country’s rural village communities.
Jin Jinghua (金京华), heads of the markets regulation department of China’s postal authority, said that rural village delivery and logistics systems in China continued to suffer from a range of outstanding problems including inadequate end service capability and weak infrastructure.
In order to address these issues the Chinese postal authority has driven development of express delivery systems since 2014. All rural villages in China were connected to the postal system by 2019, while key express delivery brands covered 98% of rural counties throughout China.
In the first half of 2021 China’s rural village express delivery volume exceeded 20 billion volume, for an increase of more than 30% compared to the same period last year.
Jin said that local governments would play a critical role in advancing the development of an all-encompassing rural logistics system given the economics of the sector.
“Because rural village operating costs are high and revenues are small, most rural express delivery enterprises do not have sufficient profitability, and it is very difficult for them to enter the village markets by relying upon their own capabilities,” said Jin at a press conference held by the State Council on 26 July.
“Local governments at all levels must provide assistance, and drive the sharing and integration of resources.”
Chen Yong (陈勇), a senior official from the Chinese postal authority, said that over the past year it had selected 110 counties around China to undertake trials for improving supply chain network systems for online sales, given the booming growth in agricultural e-commerce.
In 2020 the rural product online sales volume was 575 billion yuan, for a YoY rise of 37.9%.
