Chinese delegation visits leading European retailers

Over the past few days, a Chinese delegation has visited several leading European retailers in order to investigate how Chinese supply chains can be improved.

Inefficient Chinese supply chain

Asda, Spar, Nestlé, P&G and L’Oréal all received a visit and gave the Chinese delegation an insight into how European fresh and environmental temperature chains work. “The close collaborations and trade relations between China and Europe are very important to us. In light of the Chinese market’s fast and strong evolution, we want to do what is necessary to guarantee our logistical chain’s sustainability and efficiency. These visits are an important step into the right direction”, the delegation’s leader, Gu Xueming, said.

The Chinese supply chain faces several efficiency issues, namely a fragmented logistical chain, rising labour costs and a lack of consistent infrastructure and standards. That results in higher costs and widely irregular handling times. A more efficient supply chain could benefit the fast-growing Chinese economy greatly.

“We took this opportunity wholeheartedly, because this way we could show how standardized pallets and containers benefit the entire supply chain: from growers, packagers and retailers to consumers of fresh agricultural products. An increased efficiency, combined with a lower overall cost of the supply chain is possible if one has the right organization, the proper installations and the right type of education”, Peter Mackie said. He is the CEO of group CHEP, market leader in the field of managed, returnable and reusable packaging solutions.