By Wei Jigang, DRC

Logistics performance is crucial to the maintenance of economic growth and the enhancement of national competitiveness. Policy makers in various countries are aware of the importance of logistics for development. Inefficient logistics system increases the transaction costs and logistics expenses of society at large, restricting large Chinese industries and trades from getting stronger. In the future, China’s logistics market will maintain a relatively rapid development, and the further subdivision of the logistics market requires accelerated enhancement of logistics performance. It is important and necessary to make an in-depth study of the improvement of China’s logistics performance.

Although China’s logistics industry has made remarkable progress, its overall inefficiency and poor performance remain to be solved: China’s logistics performance has a long way to go compared with that of developed countries; China’s logistics costs account for a higher proportion of GDP and a higher ratio of the total costs of products; China’s logistics market supply is not well adapted to the needs of the steady and rapid economic development, leading to prominent contradictions between supply and demand in logistics market; China has established trade links with more than 200 countries and regions, but has not yet formed a global logistics system, leaving China’s international logistics in a rather weak position.

Under the background of large-scale globalization and China’s significant adjustment of economic structure and major transformation of development pattern, it is of great significance and urgency to systematically analyze the key factors affecting the performance of China’s logistics and put forward the overall plans and guidelines so as to fully improve logistics performance.