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Image source: Public Business Information News Editing Center Photography: Song Baogui
On November 26th, the Information Office of the Ministry of Commerce held a special press conference on "Trade Logistics". Hu Suojin, deputy inspector of the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce, Wang Xuanqing, deputy inspector of the Circulation Development Department, and Shen Jinsheng, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, attended the press conference and answered questions from reporters. The record of the conference is as follows:
Hu Suojin:Good morning, journalists and friends. Welcome to today’s special conference on trade logistics of the Ministry of Commerce. First of all, please allow me to introduce the leaders attending today’s conference: Deputy Inspector Wang Xuanqing of the Circulation Development Department of the Ministry of Commerce; Shen Jinsheng, Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce. Today’s conference has three agendas: first, I will briefly introduce the overall situation of China’s trade logistics development; Second, please ask Deputy Inspector Wang Xuanqing to introduce the work done by the Ministry of Commerce in promoting and improving the construction of trade logistics system and the next consideration; The third is to invite Shen Jinsheng, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, to introduce the relevant situation of promoting the development of commercial logistics in Beijing. The fourth link is to communicate with reporters and friends and ask questions. Let me first introduce the general characteristics of China’s trade logistics development by establishing diplomatic relations with you.
Commercial logistics refers to the logistics service activities related to wholesale, retail, accommodation, catering, residential services and import and export trade. It is an important part of commodity circulation, with one end connected with production and the other end connected with consumption, covering agricultural products, daily industrial products, production materials and other fields. Developing trade logistics is an important measure to ensure the economic operation of the city, residents’ life and price stability, and an important way to reduce logistics costs and improve circulation efficiency.
China’s commercial logistics has a long history, starting from the Silk Road to communicate Chinese and Western trade in the Western Han Dynasty, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal that runs through the north and south in the Sui Dynasty, and Zheng He’s seven voyages to the West in the Ming Dynasty. These great initiatives are important manifestations of Chinese civilization and important carriers of China’s ancient commercial logistics, which have benefited generations and have been honored to this day. In today’s world, the logistics industry has become a basic and strategic industry supporting the development of the national economy. A city can live without industry and agriculture, but it can’t live without commerce and logistics. Trade logistics is the blood of market circulation. The more developed logistics is, the more prosperous the market is, and the more dynamic the economic development is.
In recent years, China’s economy has developed rapidly, and scientific and technological progress has changed with each passing day. Governments at all levels have paid more and more attention to the important role of trade logistics. The state has successively issued plans for the adjustment and revitalization of the logistics industry and issued "National Nine Articles" to support the development of the logistics industry. The Ministry of Commerce has also issued a series of special plans and guidance documents to promote the development of commerce and trade logistics industry and reduce circulation costs, and carried out relevant demonstration work. With the joint efforts of government enterprises and other relevant parties, China’s trade logistics has developed rapidly, with the following main features:
First, the status of trade logistics is prominent, with great development potential.
With the development of e-commerce information technology, traditional business flow, information flow and capital flow can be completed by virtual network, but logistics needs physical space transfer and time consumption, so it cannot be virtualized. At the same time, the socialization of China’s logistics is still not ideal, and the proportion of third-party logistics in the logistics market is less than 25% (Japan, Europe and the United States have exceeded 70%). Especially with the rapid development of online shopping, the contradictions such as relatively lagging trade logistics and insufficient investment in circulation facilities are more prominent. For example, in the past "Double Eleven", the Alipay transaction volume of Ali Group alone reached 35 billion yuan, which made the national trade logistics system under great pressure. Therefore, the focus of industrial competition has gradually turned to the competition for distribution channels. Under the situation that specialized third-party logistics can’t meet the needs, e-commerce companies such as JD.COM and Suning have set foot in logistics one after another, which has great potential for the development of commercial logistics. At the same time, under the guidance of national policies and the role of market mechanism, the work of modern logistics demonstration cities and urban distribution pilots in the circulation field have been gradually promoted in the past two years, the service system of trade logistics has been gradually improved, the service functions have been continuously enhanced, and the degree of specialization and organization has been gradually improved, which has provided strong support for the development of the circulation industry.
Second, the innovation of business model was accelerated, and the service function was gradually expanded.
In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other large and medium-sized cities, some commercial logistics enterprises are constantly innovating their business and service modes, providing customers with high-end logistics services such as VMI, cross-warehouse delivery, JIT, movable property financing and supply chain management, thus improving their core competitiveness. At the same time, with the start-up and use of a number of modern commercial logistics infrastructure, it will effectively promote the transformation of traditional logistics mode and improve the efficiency of urban and intercity distribution. For example, Guangdong Jiacheng Logistics Company embeds logistics services in all aspects of customers’ raw material procurement, production, sales and after-sales service, and provides overall logistics solutions and operational services based on supply chain management for Panasonic and other manufacturing enterprises, helping customers reduce logistics costs, shorten manufacturing cycle and realize "zero inventory". Guangdong Huaxin Trading Co., Ltd. develops the mode of "wholesale trade+logistics", sells more than 100 brands as agents and provides distribution services for tens of thousands of fast-moving consumer goods retail outlets. Beijing Xinfadi, Nanjing Zhongcai and other commodity distribution centers, producing areas and local wholesale markets, after construction and transformation, the capacity of goods distribution and distribution has been continuously enhanced, and cold chain logistics facilities have become new investment hotspots.
Third, the main body of trade logistics is diversified and its scale is growing rapidly.
With the continuous expansion of social demand for commercial logistics, modern commercial logistics enterprise groups with multiple ownership, multiple service modes and multiple levels have developed. For example, a modern logistics enterprise group transformed from traditional storage and transportation enterprises represented by COSCO and China Storage; Emerging private logistics enterprise groups represented by Baogong and Datian; Self-operated logistics groups of commercial enterprises represented by Yonghui, Chaopi and Suning Yunshang; E-commerce companies represented by JD.COM and Alibaba are involved in logistics groups; Manufacturing enterprises represented by Haier Logistics and China Railway Logistics separate logistics business groups; Agricultural products wholesale markets represented by Beijing Xinfadi and Nanjing Zhongcai expand logistics groups.
Fourth, the application level of information technology has been continuously improved, and the functions of the service platform have begun to show.
Most commercial logistics enterprises have upgraded transportation equipment, storage facilities and information systems, and promoted the application of advanced information technologies such as the Internet of Things, which has significantly improved efficiency and benefits, especially the innovation of open information service platforms, which has promoted the sharing of logistics resources and improved the degree of organization and standardization of commercial logistics. For example, China Logistics in Beijing, Lujiao Center in Shanghai, Lin ‘an Logistics in Guangdong, etc. have well adapted to the needs of the rapid development of commerce and trade services and the upgrading of residents’ consumption, and played a positive role in promoting commerce and trade prosperity, serving people’s livelihood, improving consumption environment, promoting the upgrading of circulation mode and transforming the mode of economic development.
While achieving the above achievements, we should also clearly see that the overall development level of China’s commercial logistics is still relatively backward, which is not suitable for the needs of economic and social development and the upgrading of residents’ consumption. In the past, we didn’t know enough about the logistics industry and paid enough attention to it. We paid more attention to logistics supply, such as infrastructure construction, transportation tools, etc., and didn’t cultivate enough facilities’ functions, model innovation, technology application and industrial integration. The problems of high logistics cost and low efficiency were more prominent. According to the survey, the "last mile" price increase of vegetables in Beijing from Xinfadi wholesale market to community retail stores is about four times that from Shouguang, Shandong to Xinfadi, Beijing! Of course, it is not entirely the logistics cost, but also other costs, but the rising cost of logistics is indeed in a state of sudden rise. Especially in recent years, with the rapid development of e-commerce online shopping, the problem of "last mile" distribution is difficult and expensive is more prominent. These conditions show that it is urgent and arduous for China to comprehensively improve the development level of trade and logistics industry, and there is still a long way to go, which requires all parties concerned to work together and make arduous efforts.
Next, please ask Wang Xuanqing, deputy inspector of the Circulation Development Department of the Ministry of Commerce, to introduce some practices and considerations of the Ministry of Commerce in promoting and improving the construction of trade logistics system.
Wang Xuanqing:Dear journalists and friends, I am very happy to communicate with you. Next, I will give a briefing to reporters and friends on the work of the Ministry of Commerce in developing trade logistics in recent years and the next consideration.
Next, I would like to give you an introduction on the business logistics work carried out by the Ministry of Commerce in recent years and the next consideration.
First, the work and achievements of our department in promoting trade logistics
In recent years, in accordance with the spirit of the relevant planning and guidance documents, our department has carried out a series of work in promoting the development, transformation and upgrading of the trade and logistics industry, including:
(A) to open up a new situation in trade logistics. Since the beginning of this year, Vice Premier Wang Yang of the State Council has given important instructions on logistics work many times, especially on October 25th this year, he personally presided over a symposium on logistics work in some cities to study and deploy the work. Mayors of 16 cities and responsible comrades of commercial departments and relevant departments in the State Council attended the meeting. Vice Premier Wang Yang put forward six key tasks on trade logistics: First, promote the construction of logistics standardization and improve the efficiency of logistics operation; The second is to build a logistics credit system and optimize the market environment; Third, improve the level of logistics informatization, integrate resources with information technology and build a multi-level service platform; Fourth, implement policies to encourage the development of the logistics industry and coordinate and solve bottlenecks; The fifth is to speed up the development of urban logistics distribution and solve the problem of "last mile" distribution being difficult and expensive; Sixth, encourage the development of third-party logistics enterprises and improve the level of specialization, socialization and scale. Vice Premier Wang Yang’s speech pointed out the direction and put forward clear requirements for us to do a good job in business logistics in the coming period. To this end, on November 12 this year, the Ministry of Commerce held a national conference on trade and logistics to deploy related work.
(two) to formulate development plans and issue guidance documents. In March 2011, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Supply and Marketing Corporation, issued the Special Plan for the Development of Commercial Logistics. This is the first special plan to guide and promote the development of China’s commercial logistics. It puts forward the goal of initially establishing a modern commercial logistics service system by 2015, and defines nine key tasks, such as improving the layout, enhancing the level of specialization, strengthening innovation and developing science and technology. In 2012, the State Council issued "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Circulation System and Accelerating the Development of Circulation Industry", which further established the basic and leading position of circulation industry including logistics in the national economy, clarified the inter-ministerial coordination mechanism of nationwide circulation led by the Ministry of Commerce, strengthened coordination, guidance, supervision and inspection of circulation work, and timely studied and solved major problems in the development of circulation industry.
(three) to carry out the demonstration of modern logistics city in the circulation field. In 2011, the Ministry of Commerce identified 46 modern logistics demonstration cities in the circulation field throughout the country. In recent years, the development of logistics industry in 46 demonstration cities has been highly valued and supported by local governments, the investment in urban logistics infrastructure construction has increased, the construction of public logistics information service platform and trading platform has been accelerated, and the level of logistics specialization, informationization and automation has developed rapidly. While developing urban logistics, all localities give full play to the radiation function, provide services for industrial products going to the countryside and agricultural products entering the city, and promote the development of rural logistics construction.
(D) Promote urban distribution through comprehensive pilot of modern service industry. Since 2011, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and other departments have carried out comprehensive pilot work of modern service industry in eight provinces and cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Liaoning and Tianjin in three batches. Eight provinces and cities have taken urban logistics distribution as an important field of pilot work and given support. Through the pilot work, the working system and mechanism of promoting the development of modern service industries such as modern logistics in various places have been improved, the development level of the industry has been improved, and a good demonstration effect has been produced. In particular, Beijing carried out "direct mining and direct supply" of agricultural products, Shanghai explored innovative cities for joint distribution, promoted secondary production with tertiary production, and promoted the linkage development of secondary production and tertiary production. Liaoning manufacturing owners assisted in separating and expanding logistics entities, and achieved remarkable results. For example, the "56135" logistics service platform of Shanghai Land Freight Trading Center has more than 100,000 members, publishing 800,000 effective messages every day and matching 120,000 transactions every day. The average logistics cost of member enterprises is half lower than the national average and close to the international level.
(five) to carry out urban joint distribution pilot. In June 2012, the "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Application and Joint Distribution of Modern Logistics Technology" was issued, and the first batch of nine cities were selected to carry out comprehensive pilot projects of modern logistics technology application and joint distribution, giving financial support; In December 2012, the "Guidelines for the Development of National Urban Distribution" was issued to provide guidance and reference for local work. In 2013, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance brought the work of urban joint distribution into the pilot scope of modern service industry, and identified 15 pilot cities, which made the work more in-depth. For example, Beijing "City 100" logistics company, Shanghai agriculture, industry and commerce, etc., rely on stores to carry out "online booking and store collection", integrate the "last 100 meters" of community end distribution, and expand value-added services; Shanghai Bailian established a pallet recycling system, Wuhan promoted "electronic food boxes" and Guiyang established a green distribution fleet, which played a good role in demonstrating radiation.
(six) to strengthen the guidance and management of the warehousing industry. In 2012, the Ministry of Commerce issued "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Transformation and Upgrading of Warehouse Industry", aiming at promoting the overall needs of modern commodity circulation system construction and trade logistics, and guiding the development of warehouse industry in the direction of informationization, standardization and standardization. And formulated two industry standards, namely, the service standard of chattel pledge supervision and the evaluation index of pledge supervision enterprises, to guide the development of financial logistics norms.
(seven) to carry out basic work such as statistics, standards and research. In recent years, the Ministry of Commerce has vigorously promoted basic work such as domestic trade circulation standards and statistics, including the logistics industry, and issued 24 logistics-related standards, and related standards such as urban distribution and service platforms and warehousing will be released soon. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce has carried out special research on the development status of China’s logistics industry, the total cost of social logistics, and the reduction of logistics costs, and established the system of focusing on logistics enterprises and focusing on business functional areas, which has laid a solid foundation for the development of trade logistics.
Second, the next key work
On October 25th, Vice Premier Wang Yang of the State Council hosted a symposium on logistics in some cities. On November 12th, the Ministry of Commerce held a national conference on trade logistics to make arrangements for trade logistics. According to the instructions of Vice Premier Wang Yang, in the next step, from the perspective of trade logistics, our department will focus on the following tasks:
(1) Strengthen the construction of logistics standardization. The Ministry of Commerce, together with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Standards Committee, Ministry of Finance and other departments, is conducting research on how to establish a standard system for commercial logistics, speeding up the formulation and revision of standards, increasing the application and promotion of standards, and studying the construction of a standardized pallet recycling system. Where conditions permit, it can be carried out in advance, and combined with the actual situation in the region, formulate policies to guide enterprises to speed up the application of standards, and recommend local standards and enterprise standards with mature application, advanced level and suitability for promotion to rise to industry standards.
(B) improve the level of logistics information. Encourage the orderly development of enterprise business information service platforms. By integrating and allocating logistics resources through the platform, we can solve the asymmetric contradiction between supply and demand of logistics, realize lean and visual management, and provide efficient, convenient, honest and safe logistics services. Conditional areas can coordinate with relevant departments, explore the integration of the existing public information of transportation, industry and commerce, taxation, customs and other departments and make it public, so as to enhance service quality, improve logistics efficiency, realize resource sharing from the region to the whole country and from the government to enterprises, and provide favorable conditions for the vast number of commercial logistics enterprises to expand their business scale and region and reduce transaction costs.
(3) Encourage the development of specialized and socialized logistics. Specialization and socialization are the development directions of commerce and trade logistics in the future. It is necessary to support the transformation and upgrading of traditional commercial materials storage and transportation enterprises, and develop into a modern commercial logistics distribution center and a professional and large-scale direction. Guide industrial and commercial enterprises to change the traditional management mode of "big and complete, small and complete", deepen and refine the professional division of labor, implement the separation of main and auxiliary, and promote the marketization and socialization of logistics. Encourage the development of embedded third-party logistics that embeds logistics services into all aspects of procurement, production, sales and after-sales service of manufacturing enterprises and has the ability to integrate supply chains. Encourage the development of e-commerce logistics that relies on e-commerce platform and combines online and offline. Encourage the development of agricultural products logistics, and form a variety of production and marketing convergence modes such as agricultural batch docking, agricultural supermarket docking, and direct supply and direct sales.
(four) continue to carry out the demonstration work of urban logistics distribution. On the basis of the pilot project of urban distribution carried out by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance, relevant demonstration work will continue. First, we should optimize the layout of urban distribution network. Increase support for the construction of urban logistics distribution centers and terminal outlets to solve the "last mile" distribution problem. Second, we must actively develop a variety of distribution methods. Support e-commerce enterprises to actively develop offline pick-up points and promote various distribution methods such as "online booking store pick-up" and "automatic container pick-up". Accelerate the development of joint distribution, promote enterprises to strengthen horizontal alliance and realize benefit sharing. Encourage and advocate chain operation, support enterprises to develop unified procurement, unified warehousing and unified delivery, and improve the centralized distribution rate. Third, we should improve the development environment of urban logistics distribution. We are actively studying with relevant departments to promote the introduction of guiding opinions to promote the development of trade logistics.
(five) to guide the development of industry norms. The trade and logistics industry has always been a difficult point in rectifying the market order. It is necessary to accelerate the construction of business credit system, strengthen the integration and disclosure of credit information, establish and improve the incentive and punishment mechanism, increase the cost of enterprise dishonesty, and guide the behavior of market participants. It is necessary to give full play to the leading role of commercial departments in standardizing market order and breaking regional blockades and industrial monopolies, strengthen overall coordination, and severely crack down on unfair competition and illegal business practices.
(6) Coordinate and implement various support policies. In recent years, in order to support the healthy development of the logistics industry, the State Council has issued a series of support policies in finance, taxation, land and vehicle management, and achieved good results. Of course, some policies have not been fully implemented, and the "reform of the camp" has not been launched for a long time, and the effect has not yet fully appeared, and even the tax burden of some enterprises has risen. For the policies that have not been implemented in the field of trade logistics, the Ministry of Commerce will carefully sort out and analyze the reasons, strengthen horizontal communication and coordination, and put forward policy suggestions in time.
Hu Suojin:Thank you, Deputy Inspector Wang. Let’s invite Director Shen of Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce to introduce the development of commercial logistics in Beijing.
Shen Jinsheng:I am very glad to have the opportunity to briefly introduce the development of Beijing urban logistics, especially commercial logistics, to you today through the platform of the Ministry of Commerce. As the leader of the Ministry said just now, logistics is not only a basic industry, but also a leading industry in the whole economic and social system. At the same time, it is a compound industry that integrates facilities, information, management and many other factors. As a mega-city with a population of more than 20 million in Beijing, urban logistics, especially commercial logistics, plays a very important and irreplaceable basic role in ensuring the normal operation of the city.
Over the years, the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have attached great importance to the development of the logistics industry according to the requirements of the State Council. Generally speaking, among the main economic indicators related to the logistics industry in Beijing, one is the total social logistics, the other is the total operating income of the logistics industry, plus the added value created by the logistics industry, all of which have shown a sustained and steady growth trend. At the same time, the proportion of total logistics cost to GDP, which is recognized by the world as an indicator of the efficiency and level of logistics development, has been decreasing continuously in recent years. Despite the pressure of rigid rising industry costs in recent years, the total cost as a percentage of GDP I just mentioned was 15.1% in Beijing in 2012, which was 0.4 percentage points lower than that in 2010 and 2.9 percentage points lower than the national average. This shows that the intensive degree and operational efficiency of Beijing’s logistics industry have been continuously or steadily improved.
In the process of the development of the logistics industry, Beijing has carried out a lot of related work in the following aspects:
First, strengthen planning guidance. At the beginning of the 11th Five-Year Plan, Beijing issued the city-wide logistics development plan for the first time. This year, the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" for the development of the logistics industry was also released. In the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, Beijing clearly put forward that the overall pattern of capital logistics development is called "three rings, five belts and multiple centers". It is clearly stated in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan that Beijing should devote itself to building a three-dimensional modern logistics system with wide coverage. If we summarize the industrial characteristics or the macro layout and trend of Beijing’s logistics development, there are a few words: First, the general purpose of Beijing’s logistics development, according to the positioning of the capital city and the mega-consumption city, is called facilitating the people, benefiting the people, promoting development, serving the whole country and radiating the world, which has both basic functions and open requirements. From the content of industrial development, we should strive to build an urban efficient and intensive logistics system based on the operation guarantee of mega-cities, with professional logistics system and socialized third-party logistics as the backbone and international logistics and logistics headquarters economy as the characteristics. Beijing’s logistics can be summarized in just a few words.
After the implementation of these two five-year plans, Beijing’s logistics and industry have made remarkable progress in the facilities construction of logistics nodes, the rational layout of logistics channels and the construction of terminal logistics facilities, and also greatly improved the service function and emergency response ability of the urban logistics system. In the field of business circulation, it is manifested in several aspects: First, the unified distribution rate of commercial chains in Beijing continues to increase, and the current unified distribution rate of commerce is probably over 80%. The unified distribution rate of commerce in suburbs and towns also exceeds 60%, and the unified distribution rate index also reflects the degree of organization and intensification of a city’s commercial development. Second, great progress has been made in the construction of cold chain logistics system and facilities involving people’s livelihood, especially in recent years. At present, the total storage capacity of cold storage in Beijing has reached 800,000 tons, and the per capita storage capacity has reached 40 kilograms. Frankly speaking, this figure is much lower than that of developed countries, but this figure should be seen in our country, and such a proportion is far ahead of the national level. Third, rapid progress has been made in the construction of some specialized logistics systems, especially those closely related to the daily life of urban residents, such as medical logistics. Through the continuous introduction of new technologies in the logistics field, including the construction of related facilities, Beijing has basically realized the visual monitoring and traceability of the whole process from inventory to hospital beds, which is closely related to the life, health and safety of citizens. As the capital, books in Beijing have advantages, and large cultural and publishing institutions are concentrated.Beijing’s annual distribution capacity in the book market has reached 300 million copies a year, and it has built the largest distribution center for books and publications in China and even in Asia. Fourth, the diversified logistics service model has supported the development of some emerging retail formats such as e-commerce. Due to the characteristics of Beijing, the activity of e-commerce in Beijing, especially B2C, is still in a leading position in China, and six of the nine B2C enterprises with relatively large national rankings are headquartered in Beijing. National e-commerce accounted for 6.8% of the total sales, and Beijing accounted for about 10.5% from January to September this year, maintaining a growth rate of 43.5%. Adapting to the rapid development of e-commerce, it requires diversified logistics service modes to solve the "last mile" problem of logistics development and distribution. In recent years, Beijing has also made a lot of explorations in these areas and achieved good results.
Second, we should strengthen policy guidance. In addition to releasing the five-year industrial development plan, Beijing has successively issued the implementation plan for the adjustment and revitalization of Beijing’s logistics industry in recent years, and implemented the State-run document. Beijing has also issued a series of policy documents, such as Beijing’s implementation opinions on policies and measures to promote the healthy development of the logistics industry, which has taken the lead in realizing the same price of electricity, gas and heat in the logistics industry as industrial enterprises in the country, creating a good environment for the development of industries and enterprises.
At the same time, the commercial department has also strengthened the guidance and support of government financial funds for the development of logistics industry. Since 2002, Beijing has devoted special funds from commercial circulation to support the development of urban commercial logistics industry. One of the directions we support is the construction of key logistics facilities related to people’s livelihood, and the other is the construction of logistics informatization, which also includes the application of advanced technology in the logistics industry. In particular, the construction of major agricultural products circulation facilities has always been the focus of policy guidance and support of the commercial sector.
Third, encourage innovation in the logistics industry and the application of new technologies. First, in the field of urban logistics joint distribution, in recent years, through continuous exploration, "one hundred cities" has emerged, which is characterized by solving the last 100 meters or the last kilometer. In terms of joint distribution of agricultural products, we have established a direct purchase alliance of agricultural and sideline products, hoping to apply the concept of logistics joint distribution to the circulation of agricultural products. Second, by establishing a public information service platform and solving the problem of information asymmetry to improve the operational efficiency of the logistics industry itself, it is actually an effective connection between supply and demand. For example, there is a platform in Beijing at present, that is, the Logistics China Platform, which has a market share of more than 95% in the trunk bulk logistics market around Beijing, and more than 20,000 transactions are made by this platform every day. It should be said that this is a good or good performance. At the same time, there are some public service platforms in Beijing, such as e-commerce supporting cross-border logistics, also known as international logistics information platform, and logistics finance to solve the problem of recycling funds deposited from bulk products in the logistics field, so as to solve the effective use of warehousing resources. The use of information has played a very good role in improving the efficiency of the industry. Third, we should actively support and guide the logistics field to improve the efficiency and benefit of enterprise and industry development through new technologies or new organization and management. At present, in Beijing, especially in key enterprises, new technologies such as rapid decomposition RFID of visual goods in the Internet of Things are being widely used.I also believe that it will provide new impetus and support for the next rapid development of Beijing’s logistics industry. Thank you.
Hu Suojin:Thank you, Director Shen. Let’s go to the last link, please ask reporters and friends questions.
Economic Information Daily:Excuse me, Deputy Inspector Wang, just now you introduced that urban logistics distribution is the focus of the next step. Can you tell me what are the main outstanding problems of urban logistics distribution now? What has the Ministry of Commerce done to solve the outstanding problems? Thank you.
Wang Xuanqing:The outstanding problems in urban logistics distribution are now concerned by the media and all walks of life. Cities are the gathering places of population, production and consumption, especially in mega-cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Urban logistics is mainly embodied in trade logistics, which is the "last mile" logistics activity for residents’ consumption and industrial and commercial enterprises, and it is very active and accounts for a relatively high proportion. It is precisely because of these characteristics of the city and the laws of urban logistics operation that the current urban logistics distribution is facing outstanding problems. The problems of urban logistics distribution can be summarized as "three difficulties and two more": difficulty in passing, difficulty in parking, difficulty in loading and unloading, excessive fees and fines. Due to the pressure of traffic management in cities, urban road resources and traffic resources are generally prior to public passenger transport and car passenger transport. There are many restrictions on freight vehicles entering the city, such as time limit, vehicle types and permits. It is precisely because of many restrictions that it is difficult to pass. In addition, the parking space of trucks is larger than that of passenger cars, and the problem is more prominent. In the process of entering the city, all relevant departments have relevant requirements for the management of freight vehicles, and there are many controls, so the fees are too high, and there are often fines. These problems involve many management departments, and the difficulty of coordination is also relatively great. What’s more, there are many small and medium-sized companies engaged in urban logistics, and the personnel are complicated, which brings certain difficulties to management, and some of them have vicious competition and integrity problems.
I have introduced some of the work done by the Ministry of Commerce, and it also involves this aspect. For example, one is to pay attention to planning. In 2011, our Ministry, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Supply and Marketing Corporation, issued the Special Plan for the Development of Commercial Logistics, which has special plans and requirements. In addition, we have formulated 24 related standards. Then we should focus on mode innovation. It is precisely because urban distribution faces the above characteristics, on the one hand, it is the improvement of management, on the other hand, for enterprises, it is necessary to explore some new modes, reduce the idling of freight vehicles, improve handling efficiency, etc., so we focus on mode innovation and solve the problems of difficult and expensive distribution through mode innovation. Among the 9 pilot cities of joint distribution last year and 15 this year, the focus is on the "one-to-many" unified distribution, centralized distribution and joint distribution service mode, changing the traditional mode of self-distribution by enterprises and implementing socialized distribution, such as the "City 100" mode introduced by Director Shen, such as the "online booking and store taking" mode of online shopping and physical store cooperation introduced by me earlier, and integrating resources and intensive resources through unified centralized distribution by third parties, reducing the number of vehicles entering the city.
The third is to grasp the integration of information, which is very important to rely on information and the logistics information service platform I introduced earlier. One of the most important ways to solve the problem of information asymmetry in car search, car search, warehouse search and warehouse search at present is to establish an information platform. Through the information platform and informatization means, information can be released and transactions can be made on the platform, which can make the supply and demand sides dock as soon as possible and solve the problem of goods and cars docking.
The fourth is to promote standards, not only the problem of urban distribution, but also the problem of non-uniform standards in the whole logistics operation. Because of the non-uniform standards or the incomplete application of the formulated standards, it is difficult to play the integration level of logistics operation, making it difficult to play the characteristics of integrated logistics operation and network operation, and it is also difficult to intensive resources. Earlier, I cited the example of pallet, which is the core link in the whole logistics operation. The small pallet is more than one square meter, but it affects the whole logistics operation. Because of the nonstandard pallet, it is difficult to standardize the shelves related to it, the relevant loading and unloading equipment, and the nonstandard pallet is not easy to match the vehicle when loading, which leads to a series of problems such as the insufficient use of the loading space of the truck. The root standard is the existing product packaging problem, and the standardization of packaging is a very root problem. If the product is designed according to the prescribed mode, it can be well matched with the standard pallet, and the standard pallet can be matched with the standard vehicle, so that the number of handling and unloading can be reduced and the efficiency of loading can be improved, which is also our next step.
China Daily:Excuse me, Director Shen, just now you mentioned the "last mile" problem. There are many reports on the "last mile", which is the difficulty of distribution. Just now you mentioned that Beijing’s logistics development is better than that of the whole country. What are your experiences and opinions? How to solve the "last mile" problem?
Shen JinshengThe "last mile" and "last hundred meters" are a big problem in urban logistics distribution. If we disassemble the cost structure of the enterprise in detail, we will find that the "last mile" consumes a large proportion of manpower, time and expenses in the whole enterprise. In recent years, Beijing’s commercial departments are also actively exploring and promoting how to solve the "last mile" problem through the application of new technologies or new service formats and service innovations. We are actively exploring the new service format of "last mile" distribution. If you walk around the urban area of Beijing or some relatively large communities and communities, you will find a signboard called "City 100", which has now become an influential brand enterprise with "last 100 meters" distribution. It means to concentrate the business of many enterprises in the last 100 meters on him through equal cooperation between enterprises; Many people experience the terminal of express delivery in their daily life as a stall, and some of them are similar to visiting prison. They send it in through the iron gate, concentrating the "last 100 meters" business of many enterprises in one enterprise, and intensively and intensively utilizing enterprise resources through the mode of joint distribution.
The starting point of this model is conducive to the improvement of the efficiency of the industry itself, and it is a problem of improving efficiency to take out the most time-consuming and laborious piece for everyone to promote together. Second, it’s convenient for residents. It turns out that they are all tourists. If you buy something online and want a courier to come to your home, many people may not feel at ease, or even if you make an appointment to wait at home at one o’clock, if I arrive half an hour late in the traffic jam and you go out again, then I will come again in the afternoon, which is tantamount to a waste of manpower. Through the intensive form, tourists are turned into sitting merchants, which is equivalent to setting up such a fixed site in a large community or university for the concentrated distribution demand of the last 100 meters, that is, turning it into the mail room of the university or community, whether you pass by to work or your family helps you get it. This is an innovation in format or service mode. Third, it has changed the image of our industry, unified service standards and standardized corporate image. After working in this community for a long time, you, this site and your employees have become an integral part of the community residents, and the mutual trust between enterprises and clients can be improved. It should be said that it is a win-win model from efficiency and benefit to social effect. At present, this model has more than 170 sites in Beijing. By the end of this year, we plan to get 200 sites. According to the current service level, it can directly serve 1,000 communities or universities, with a population of more than 5 million.
The second is to actively guide and encourage the integrated utilization of existing resources, such as encouraging businesses in some communities to make use of their idle resources and open them up as workplaces for the last 100 meters of logistics or to provide such services. In the future, many community business centers will gradually be transformed into service centers in cities. Besides selling some things, they will also be loaded with a variety of service functions, which will really make them become community residents or assistants and helpers in their lives. This is also an important measure to improve the convenience of citizens’ lives and solve the problem of centralized utilization of resources.
The third is to fully rely on the development of new technologies, especially the technology of mobile commerce, so that logistics, capital flow, information flow and business flow can be truly integrated through the technical means of mobile commerce, which will also help solve the last 100 meters problem in the distribution process.
The fourth approach is that we actively encourage and promote some traditional commercial enterprises, including other types of enterprises, to transform and upgrade in the process of urban development, and actively join the content of residents’ service, which is the organic integration of online and offline, and provide solutions to the problem of solving the last 100 meters of distribution, which is also the focus of the next development of commercial departments in this field.
International Business Daily:I’d like to ask Director Shen. You just mentioned that Beijing has set up a direct purchase and direct supply alliance for agricultural products distribution. Please tell us something about this. What problems have you encountered? What are the plans for the next step? Thank you.
Shen Jinsheng:This has been going on for more than a year. At the end of last year, under the guidance of the Beijing Municipal Government, people in the industry, the suppliers and demanders of agricultural and sideline products, including colleagues from the business circles in the whole industrial chain in distribution processing, set up a direct purchase and direct supply alliance of agricultural products voluntarily and for mutual benefit. What I just introduced is the last mile or the last hundred meters, which is aimed at individual consumers. Compared with Beijing, there are many group consumers besides individuals, such as the Ministry of Commerce, CCTV and Beijing Daily. You are a big unit, with at least canteens, and many institutions have canteens. Similarly, there are demands for agricultural and sideline products. The realistic mode is that no matter how big or small the company needs, he sends people to the new place to buy vegetables himself every morning, such as how much carrots and white radishes are needed, and he may pick and choose and finally buy them back with only 1/3, 1/2 or 1/5 of the car. The starting point of establishing this alliance is to solve the group’s needs for agricultural and sideline products. Through the producers of agricultural and sideline products, that is, vegetable growers, agricultural cooperative organizations and third-party logistics service providers, including decomposition and distribution processing, as well as transportation and distribution, plus the group customers of the terminal are integrated into a platform, and through information means, such as what goods and how much they need to purchase in the canteen of Beijing Daily tomorrow, a professional third-party logistics service provider will place an order on the information platform the next day.In this way, several problems have been solved: First, the problem of empty driving of urban vehicles in Beijing has been solved. Originally, a cart was needed to pull 200 kilograms and 300 kilograms. Now, with professional distribution, a car may meet the service needs of several large customers nearby at the same time, thus solving the problem of intensive use of vehicles. Second, through information technology, these products produced by agricultural cooperative organizations may be assembled in Beijing, may not enter the Beijing market, or may be around. If your demand is relatively large, the goods provided by farmers just meet your needs, or may be directly delivered to your unit, which will be of positive help to further simplify the circulation link or smooth the logistics channels. This attempt has been made for more than a year. Now there are about 900 upstream and downstream member units participating in this alliance, and the daily distribution scale can reach about 1.2 million kilograms. Now the annual transaction volume is about 1.5 billion, which has played a very good role, or as a new logistics service model exploration, it has solved the problem of logistics joint distribution of group customers, which is a new attempt.
If there are any problems, such a new service format and mode still need to be gradually familiar and accepted by all sectors of society, or how to further expand it, and better integrate the common logistics and distribution needs of social groups through information platforms, which is the focus of the next development. How to make the function of this platform solve the direct connection between supply and demand from now on, and further increase or broaden the service content, including the construction of agricultural and sideline products information platform, whether the accumulated customer resources, including the previous transaction scale, can gradually have the ability to find the price of some agricultural and sideline products, how to better integrate more agricultural production resources, and provide diversified and layered consumer demand satisfaction options for the Beijing market, these are the next new models, which are being further explored.
China economic herald:Is there foreign capital involved in the logistics industry? What is the situation of foreign investment in our logistics industry? Thank you.
Wang Xuanqing:The logistics industry is also the logistics of ordinary goods, and it is a field with a high degree of opening to the outside world. Moreover, it is not a recent thing for foreign-funded enterprises to enter China. For example, in the express delivery industry, FedEx, DHL, Holland Tiandi and so on have basically come in. In recent years, there have been a lot of entry into warehousing real estate, such as Pross, which is familiar to everyone, and Amber. Enterprises with foreign investment backgrounds have entered our domestic market one after another. The entry of these foreign-funded enterprises is of positive significance to the improvement of the overall logistics industry, the introduction of new technologies and some new management models. As far as industrial policy is concerned, they are still encouraged to develop. Of course, in the process of development, I also hope that my national enterprises will gradually develop and grow up in the process of learning from foreign-funded enterprises, such as express delivery. In the past, foreign capital basically occupied a large market, but in recent years, express delivery enterprises such as SF Express and Three Links and One Reach have developed very fast, especially SF Express. Now, the annual turnover exceeds 20 billion to 30 billion, and I have my own airline and about 30 cargo planes, so I can compete with foreign-funded enterprises in terms of volume.
Radio China International:I have a question for Deputy Inspector Wang. Just now, you introduced the situation of urban logistics distribution. Please talk about the reasons and performance of the higher overall logistics cost in China. Thank you.
Wang Xuanqing:The overall logistics cost in China is relatively high, which is also widely discussed, and there are many reports in the media. It is very important for China to reflect the logistics indicators as a whole. Compared with GDP, the total cost of social logistics has been maintained at around 18% for many years. It was higher in previous years, reaching a peak of 24% in 1991, and now it is basically maintained at around 18%. The decline in recent years is not obvious. In terms of performance, the total cost of social logistics is on the high side, and the ratio with GDP is relatively high, which is a performance on the one hand.
On the other hand, from the perspective of structure, logistics costs, storage costs and management costs are higher in proportion, which also reflects that the operation level of the whole logistics is still relatively extensive. There is a figure. In 2012, the total logistics cost in China was 9.4 trillion, and the ratio with GDP was 18%, which was 6.8 percentage points higher than the world average in that year. We are not only higher than developed countries, for example, the United States is 8.5%, Japan is 8.7%, and Germany is 8.3%. Compared with the BRICS countries whose economic development level is basically the same as ours, we are also higher, India is 13%, we are 5 percentage points higher than him, and Brazil is 11.6%, which is about 7 percentage points higher than him.
From a structural point of view, the gap in management costs is larger. For example, according to the statistics in 2012, the proportion of transportation costs to GDP is 1.7 times of the average level of developed countries, which is higher, but not too high. The storage cost is 2.2 times higher, but the management cost is 6.9 times higher. In terms of management fees, we are more prominent. These performances show that the logistics industry as a whole has not got rid of the extensive development model, and there are many reasons. I will point out a major basic reason. Objectively speaking, this is related to the economic development stage and industrial layout of our country. We are still in the stage of heavy chemical industry, and the industrial layout is characterized by the fact that most energy and resource products are in the western region and the northern region, and most of the processing industry markets are in the eastern and southern regions. There are many long-distance and low-value bulk commodities transported in large spans, which inevitably leads to higher overall freight volume and freight turnover. In 2012, China’s freight volume was 41.32 billion tons, and freight turnover was 17.3 trillion tons kilometers, both of which are very large, ranking first in the world. Compared with developed countries, the freight volume and turnover of goods per unit of GDP are much higher. For example, in 2009, the turnover of goods per unit of GDP in China was 5.1 times that of the United States, and the turnover of goods per unit of GDP was 5.1 times that of the United States, 14.3 times that of Japan and 16.4 times that of Germany. Therefore, everyone should look at it objectively. The stage of economic development and industrial layout we are now in have a certain relationship with the relatively large country and large span.This is a fundamental factor.
The second factor is related to the logistics industry. The threshold of the logistics industry is relatively low and the degree of organization is relatively weak. Small and medium-sized companies account for more than 90%, which is bound to be lower in operational efficiency. According to statistics, the share of the top 20 road transport enterprises in China is less than 2%, which is the so-called market concentration. We only have 2%, which is very low. The top five road transport enterprises in the United States account for 60% of the market, and our 20 companies are less than 2%. China’s road freight companies have an average of 1.5 vehicles, even less than 2 vehicles, of which only 1 vehicle company accounts for 40%, which shows that our overall logistics operation is small, scattered and weak. Of course, the bigger the company, the higher its operating efficiency, and the smaller the company, the lower its operating efficiency.
The third reason is related to the degree of informatization. Asymmetric information, cars can’t find goods, goods can’t find cars, warehouses can’t find cars and goods, and warehouses can’t find warehouses, which leads to high vacancy rate of vehicles and insufficient utilization of warehouses, which is also an important factor leading to high logistics costs. For example, the vacancy rate of road freight cars in our developed Shanghai in 2011 was 37%, which was three times higher than that in developed countries. The empty driving rate is not to go out empty, but to go one way, that is, to pull the goods after going out, but to come back empty, which is more common. Generally, there is no such thing as going out and coming back empty.
In addition, there are some other reasons, such as high institutional costs, highway charges, fines, fuel costs, labor costs, venue rental fees and other issues, which are all reasons.
China News Service:I would like to ask Deputy Inspector Wang, just now you introduced that there are still so many problems in China’s logistics industry. What is the significance of solving these problems and developing China’s commercial logistics industry to the whole market or consumption? Thank you.
Wang Xuanqing:The logistics industry itself is a compound industry, not an industry, but an industry composed of many industries. Therefore, it takes a long time to solve the problem of high logistics cost and low logistics efficiency, and it cannot be achieved overnight by one or two departments. Therefore, first of all, media friends and the public should have an objective understanding of this problem. Reducing the logistics cost is now the main starting point for the government to grasp the logistics work. In 2008 and 2009, in order to cope with the international financial crisis, we established ten industries to revitalize, among which the logistics industry was listed as the only service industry, which was unprecedented in history. In the past, the industries focused on revitalization were still focused on industry or agriculture and manufacturing, and the service industry was included in the revitalization for the first time. Therefore, in 2009, the State Council specially issued a plan for the adjustment and revitalization of the logistics industry. In 2011, the logistics chronic disease that was widely reflected by the society was the problem of high logistics cost and low efficiency. At that time, the media had relatively concentrated reports. the State Council specially held a meeting and issued the so-called nine national policies to promote logistics, and all relevant departments were also doing related work. As for trade logistics, Director Hu just introduced that trade logistics is mainly concentrated in cities. The characteristics of urban logistics are that urban traffic pressure, land cost pressure, labor cost pressure, commercial resource pressure and other aspects are relatively high due to the relatively intensive urban resources, market agglomeration, consumption agglomeration and personnel agglomeration.Therefore, the position of urban logistics in the whole logistics is becoming more and more prominent. First, the proportion of costs is getting higher and higher. For example, the price increase of agricultural and sideline products from Shouguang to Xinfadi in Shandong is about 1 time, while the price increase from Xinfadi to the final farmer’s retail store is about 4 times. Of course, it is not entirely the logistics cost, but it also includes other expenses. However, the rising cost of logistics is indeed in a state of sudden rise. To solve the problem of trade logistics, it is of great significance, or decisive significance, to reduce the whole logistics cost. This is the first point.
Second, it is precisely because of the characteristics of urban logistics that urban logistics is also the development direction of modern logistics. Some high-end logistics industries are concentrated in cities, because the characteristics of urban logistics are multi-batch and small-batch. For example, a supermarket and a consumer do not need much, but they need to be replenished frequently, requiring accurate, timely, point-by-point and quantity delivery to consumers. At the same time, due to the pressure of urban resources and environment, high requirements are put forward for logistics, which promotes the innovation of logistics mode and the wide application of various technologies. Now some high-end and most advanced logistics technologies have been applied in the field of business logistics. If you have the opportunity to visit the distribution centers of some large chain enterprises, automated three-dimensional warehouses, automated sorting equipment, information monitoring, and visual management throughout the process, these are all relatively high-end developments in the field of logistics, and the application of RFID technology and equipment is very wide in this field. Therefore, the development of trade logistics is of great significance, which plays a decisive role in reducing the whole logistics cost and improving efficiency, and is also of great significance in leading the transformation and upgrading of the logistics industry and applying new technologies and equipment.
Hu Suojin:Just now, Deputy Inspector Wang and Deputy Director Shen introduced the development of commercial logistics in China and the promotion of commercial logistics in Beijing, and exchanged views on issues of concern to everyone. I hope friends in the press will continue to care about the development of China’s trade and logistics industry, help us improve our work and promote the faster and better development of China’s trade and logistics industry. If you have any further questions about trade logistics after the meeting, you can contact our information office and we will give you feedback as soon as possible.
Today’s press conference is over. Thank you, Deputy Inspector Wang and Deputy Director Shen, and thank you all.
