Cargo trucks depart from a logistics park in Xuchang, Central China's Henan Province. Photo: cnsphotos

China's prosperity index for logistics industry stood at 50.6 percent in September, a month-on-month rebound of 4.3 percentage points, reflecting an increase in orders and revenue for domestic industry players as market demand remains resilient, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on Saturday.

The logistic services have been affected by a variety of factors, mainly as the result of the continuous sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 in many parts of the country. But as the government ramps up efforts to rein in the epidemic, while implementing policies to ensure the smooth operation of the transport sector, the industry showed improving signs.

Logistics have continued to rebound, with the central and eastern part of China being the major driving force behind the recovery - reaching above the 50-percent benchmark in September, and the prosperity index rebounding month-on-month by more than 2 percentage points for the central region and 6 percentage points for the eastern part, according to the CFLP.

Some key provinces in the western region of the country have been hit by the epidemic, and logistics activity dropped month-on-month, the CFLP noted.

The central region has been the region with the most logistics activity since September. The logistics demand index, inventory and turnover index both posted healthy figures, while the business volume index and new order index were 1.4 and 1.9 percentage points higher than the national index.

Industry revenue also maintained a positive trajectory, even though businesses still face pressure. In September, the profit index for main businesses rebounded by 4.2 percentage points, reflecting the increase of the amount of orders and revenue, a positive sign for the companies' potential profit growth, the industry body said.

Given the traditional consumer spending peak in September, the e-commerce logistics market also rebounded significantly. The national e-commerce logistics index in September reached 108.1 points, an increase of 3.9 points from the previous month, and close to the 108.9-point record in February this year.

Data show that the third quarter has been significantly better than the second quarter, with the quarterly profit index on average increasing by 1.2 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The nationwide rebound has been boosted by the government's efforts to ensure smooth operations and sufficient transport capacity by simplifying procedures. For example, the surveyed companies said that their average daily volume for railway transportation increased by 3-4 percent in September compared with August. 

As a result, the new orders index bounced back by 8 percentage points, even though "static management" in some regions still caused a degree of impact on logistics, the CFLP said.