The value of China's social logistics reached 84 trillion yuan (about $12.83 trillion) in the first quarter of 2022, up 6.2 percent year on year, according to a report from the China Logistics Information Center on Tuesday. 

In terms of scale, the logistics demand coefficient per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), or the ratio of total social logistics to GDP, rebounded to 3.1, the highest level since 2020, the agency said in the report. 

The huge market of China enabled the recovery of the logistics sector to continue in the first quarter, the Federation said. But it also expressed concerns about the impact brought by a more complicated international environment and the domestic resurgence of COVID-19 since March.

The growth of the logistics sector was down by over 2 percent in March compared with the period January-February, according to the report. 

Despite the stable growth in the first three months, the recovery of the sector was imbalanced across different industries and scales of companies. This illustrated that the profits of transportation enterprises represented by small, medium and micro enterprises have dropped significantly, with the income profit margin down by 0.3 percentage points year on year, 0.6 percentage points lower than the average level of logistics enterprises.

Although COVID-19 cases continued to spread in March and impeded the growth of logistics demand and market scale, and added up pressures on operation costs, the agency expected a recovery of logistics demand to continue, with the implementation of policies that aim to stabilize the supply, control the outbreak and unclog transport and logistics. 

Early this month, the Ministry of Transport announced a plan to build a national transport pass system to issue passes that will be acknowledged and available across the country to address freight difficulties amid COVID-19.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce later also announced measures to ensure the last mile of delivery is working well for everyday supplies to be readily shipped to virus-hit regions.