MK sport the capital of Chile on November 20, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines " src="https://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2024/2024-11-20/6410b1df-4314-40ca-849b-798c11d592fe.jpeg" />

A freighter from China Eastern Air Logistics carrying fresh Chilean cherries arrives at Shanghai Pudong International Airport from Santiago, the capital of Chile on November 20, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines

 
China's cold chain logistics sector posted robust growth in 2024, with surging demand for transport vehicles and busy air and railway activity, and market insiders said that the growth was closely related to the nation's increasing consumption vitality.

China's demand for cold chain logistics in 2024 reached 365 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.3 percent, the Global Times learned from the Cold Chain Logistics Committee of the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing on Monday. Sales of new energy refrigerated vehicles reached 21,368 units in 2024, up by 350.8 percent year-on-year. 

The growth has supported refrigerated vehicle dealers.

A representative of Beijing Xinyuancheng New Energy Vehicle Technology Co told the Global Times on Monday that sales of new energy refrigerated vehicles by his company saw an approximately 25 percent year-on-year increase in 2024. 

Wang Xin, representative from Hongyu Special Vehicle in Suizhou, Central China's Hubei Province, said that the company's sales of refrigerated vehicles performed well in 2024, adding that it is closely related to the nation's cold chain logistics demand for fresh foods as well as policy support for scrapping old transport vehicles. 

"Cold chain logistics eliminates the barriers of time and distance, aiding the sales of domestic and overseas fresh products, and the gradually unleashed consumer vitality will also generate significant growth potential," Zhang Yi, CEO of the iiMedia Research Institute, told the Global Times on Monday.

In the railway sector, China Railway Special Cargo Logistics Co (CRSCL) reported a significant year-on-year increase of cold chain cargo volume in 2024, with the cargo source of thermal insulation goods increasing by more than 30 percent year-on-year, the company told the Global Times on Monday. 

CRSCL has deployed advanced equipment and opened new international intermodal routes for imported fresh food connecting Chinese inland cities such as Beijing and Urumqi in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Vietnam, Europe and Central Asia. 

China Eastern Airlines has opened its first scheduled charter flight for fresh products from Europe, which connects Oslo, Norway, to Ezhou in Central China's Hubei Province, according to a statement sent from the carrier to the Global Times on Monday. 

The first flight operated on January 15, 2025, carrying about 35 tons of salmon from Oslo to Ezhou. The flight covers a distance of about 8,000 kilometers, with a total duration of approximately 11.5 hours. The route is scheduled to operate twice a week, allowing for the importation of 80-90 tons of fresh, chilled salmon into China.

In 2024, China's cold chain logistics experienced a turbulent recovery amid pressure, said the cold chain logistics committee, while noting that driven by the continuous release of consumer demand and continuous expansion of the cold chain logistics market, the momentum of the general market recovery significantly strengthened.

Moreover, official data indicated that the promotion of the catering industry and fresh food e-commerce shored up the overall growth of cold chain logistics. 

In 2024, China's catering revenue reached 5.57 trillion yuan ($761.52 billion), an increase of 5.3 percent year-on-year, said an official from the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. Data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed that from January to October in 2024, sales of Chilean cherries and Malaysian durians on e-commerce platforms increased by 107.8 percent and 23.6 percent, respectively.

The demand for cold chain logistics in China, driven by the growing need for fresh products, is experiencing explosive growth, creating significant opportunities for the development of the sector, said Zhang.