Report on the Development of Cold Chain Logistics in China’s Agricultural Product Origins (2024) Officially Released

Recently, in the 21st China International Agricultural Products Trade Fair, the Report on the Development of Cold Chain Logistics in China’s Agricultural Products (2024) (hereinafter referred to as the Report), compiled by the Department of Market and Informatization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, was officially released. The Report is divided into a general chapter, a monograph chapter and a practice chapter, systematically sorting out the development history of origin cold chain logistics, disclosing for the first time the data related to origin cold chain logistics facilities, comprehensively demonstrating the effectiveness of the construction of the central financial cold chain project, authoritatively releasing the low-temperature processing rate of agricultural products at the origin, deepening the regularity understanding of the development of origin cold chain logistics, and analyzing and judging the new trend of the industry’s development.

The Report pointed out that in 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) for the first time included origin storage and preservation facilities in the survey scope of the Comprehensive Agricultural Statistical Survey System (CASS), and set up 18 indexes for key categories such as fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, milk and aquatic products, etc., in terms of the two dimensions of origin storage and preservation capacity and the annual low-temperature processing capacity at origin, static and dynamic, and carried out a survey on a national scale. The survey shows that, at present, the national origin storage and preservation facilities scale 307,427,000 cubic meters, storage and preservation capacity of 66,945,000 tons, the eastern, central, western and northeastern 29.6%, 19.5%, 42.7% and 8.2%, respectively.

It is pointed out in the Report that the rate of low-temperature treatment of agricultural products at origin is an important indicator adopted in the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the Development of Cold Chain Logistics, reflecting the comprehensive proportion of fresh agricultural products that have gone through pre-cooling, refrigeration, and other cold chain links at origin, and that the weight of agricultural products actually subject to low-temperature treatment at origin is compared with the weight of agricultural products in need of low-temperature treatment in an ideal state, which can measure the weight of cold chain construction. By comparing the weight of agricultural products actually subjected to low-temperature treatment at the place of origin with the weight of agricultural products requiring low-temperature treatment under ideal conditions, it can measure the level of cold chain construction and operation. According to estimation, the comprehensive low-temperature treatment rate of agricultural products at origin in China will be 32.0% in 2023, which is 11 percentage points higher than that in 2020; the low-temperature treatment rate of fruits and vegetables, meat and aquatic products at origin will be 24.0%, 80.0% and 83.0% respectively. This series of data fully highlights the good development trend of origin cold chain logistics.

It is understood that the data of the Report are objective and detailed, and it has important reference value for authorities at all levels, industry associations, research institutions, market players and other relevant parties to understand the development history, status quo level and future trend of cold chain logistics at origin, and to formulate the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” and relevant policies in different places.