Guangzhou (JLC), October 29, 2025--China's total social logistics value rose 5.4% year-on-year to 263.20 trillion yuan in the first three quarters (Q1-Q3), driven by steady expansion in production demand, a statement from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) showed on Wednesday.
While growth rates moderated slightly across quarters - recording 5.7% in Q1, 5.5% in Q2 and 5.2% in Q3 - all quarters maintained robust expansion above 5.0%.
In the first nine months, industrial logistics led the growth with a 5.6% increase, contributing 81.0% to the overall logistics value expansion.
Import logistics demonstrated resilience amid external challenges, declining 1.0% from a year before but narrowing the contraction by 2 percentage points from the first half. The import logistics for coal and refined oil products fell over 10.0%, though that for crude oil gained 2.6%.
Supported by domestic demand stimulus policies, logistics value for consumer goods climbed 6.6%.
Production logistics for new energy vehicles, automotive lithium-ion power batteries and solar cells surged 29.7%, 46.9% and 14.0% respectively thanks to the "large-scale equipment renewal" policy.
In Jan-Sept, logistics industry revenue reached 10.50 trillion yuan, up 4.7%, though 0.3 percentage points slower than H1. The sector's average prosperity index stood at 50.6% for the period.
Railway freight volume increased 2.8% to 3.91 billion mt, while air cargo throughput jumped 14.0% to 7.40 million mt year on year, with international routes maintaining double-digit growth. A total of 169 new international cargo routes were launched through September.
Total social logistics costs grew 4.3% to 14.20 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, slowing 0.6 percentage points from H1. The ratio of logistics costs to gross domestic product (GDP) was 14.0%, down 0.1 percentage points year-on-year.
China's logistics costs trended lower, with the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP falling to 14.1% in 2024 from 18.0% in 2012. That is to say, the shipping cost per 100 yuan of GDP generated fell by 3.90 yuan to 14.10 yuan.
China aims to cut the ratio of social logistics costs to GDP to around 13.5% by 2027, according to an action plan unveiled by China's State Council in November last year.
