BEST launches new logistics service

Trade between China and Southeast Asia continues to surge during COVID-19 As presales for the Double 11 shopping festival－China's most iconic annual online and offline shopping gala－have already kicked off in October, BEST Inc, a Hangzhou, Zhejiang province-based integrated supply chain and logistics solutions provider, has launched a cross-border logistics service to help consumers in Southeast Asian countries purchase goods from Chinese e-commerce platforms. As the expected implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement next year will widen trade flows and consolidate the supply chain network in the Asia-Pacific region, exploring business in economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is in line with the trend that trade between China and the regional bloc has continued to surge after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Johnny Chou, BEST's chairman and CEO. Driven by fast-growing new formats and models of foreign trade such as cross-border e-commerce, big data technologies and tools like digital payments and online exhibitions, the Chinese company began express services in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia, and started cross-border logistics service from China to the five nations in 2020. Amid the pandemic, China's uninterrupted large-scale production has ensured the integrity of the supply and industrial chains, and has contributed to the prosperity of cross-border exports, said He Lin, senior director of BEST Global, a subsidiary of BEST Inc. Because the increasingly complex international investment environment has presented more difficulties for domestic companies to pursue "going global" strategies, she said the group will help Chinese manufacturers and brands enter Southeast Asia through its advantage on the group's established service networks to support the innovative growth of foreign trade.