China's logistics sector hopes for stepped-up rebound

During the period, the index tracking China's warehouse storage sector went back to the expansion range of 50.2 per cent, said the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing showed (CFLP).

E-commerce logistics activities also witnessed a business reboot in May, with the index rising by 2.1 points to 104.3 points from April.

CFLP assistant president He Hui attributed the upbeat signs to the country's measures to unclog the logistics and prop up businesses in difficulties, saying that the sector will witness more expansion in June, official Chinese media reported.

China has rolled out a slew of policies such as removing bottlenecks in transportation and reducing the burden for logistics enterprises to buoy the flows of logistics.

Shanghai, once hit hardest by the virus, launched an action plan to speed up economic recovery last month, releasing measures, including stabilising industrial and supply chains in the Yangtze River Delta, and smoothing domestic and international logistics and transportation channels.

Cities, including capital Beijing, have established a ‘white list’ mechanism to secure the delivery capacity of fresh produce suppliers and support the resumption of work for key companies.

Financial support has been funneled to logistics enterprises across China to tide them over difficulties.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's Shandong branch has extended over 800 million yuan ($1.19 billion) of loans to support the logistics sector and the loans granted by the Agricultural Bank of China's Zhejiang branch for the transport and logistics enterprises exceeded 3.53 billion yuan.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)