Strategies on Fruits and Vegetables Cold ChainLogistics in ChinaGuide Words: cold chain logistics, problems; strategiesAbstract: China is a mass production country of fruits and vegetables, and the output ranks first inthe world. However, the development of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is relativelybackward, which leads to high decay rate and low circulation, restricting the development of fruits andvegetables industry. In this paper, through studying on domestic fruits and vegetables cold chainlogistics,the status was summarized, and themain problems wereanalyzed.Then some strategieswere put forward including speeding up infrastructures construction and techniques upgrading.strengtheningthe informatization and standardization construction,boostingthedevelopment of thethird-party cold chain logistics and so on, which provided references for developing fruits andvegetables cold chainlogistics in China.L.INTRODUCTIONChina is rich in fruits and vegetables. Vegetables industry and fruits industry have become thesecond and the third largest industry of planting industry in China, and China's output of fruits andvegetables ranks first in the world.However, due to slow development of fruits and vegetables coldchain logistics, it was difficult to achieve cross-region and cross-season sales, which gave rise to“"large output, small sales" and directly restricted the increase of farmer's income and resulted in theproblems of “outputs accelerating without incomes increasing", “low incomes of the farmers" inChinese "Three Rural Issues". Thus, accelerating the development of fruit and vegetable cold chainlogisticswill make important sensetothedecreaseoffruits and vegetables loss and theincreaseoffarmerincome.Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is a special supply chain that fruits and vegetables mustbe kept in the appropriate low temperature environment in the course of process, storage,transportation, distribution and retail, so as to guarantee the quality and decrease the loss as far aspossible(the model is shown in Figure 1). Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics follow 3Tprinciples that circulation time, temperature and tolerance must achieve the specific requirements offruits and vegetables: At the same time, Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics must satisfy 3Mconditions that cold storage means, methods and management must achieve certain requirements.At present, the vegetables cold chain logistics in the United States is the most typical. Fromharvest to sale, vegetables are kept in low physiological temperature, forming a chain as
Strategies on Fruits and Vegetables Cold Chain Logistics in China Guide Words：cold chain logistics; problems; strategies Abstract：China is a mass production country of fruits and vegetables, and the output ranks first in the world. However, the development of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is relatively backward, which leads to high decay rate and low circulation, restricting the development of fruits and vegetables industry. In this paper, through studying on domestic fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics, the status was summarized, and the main problems were analyzed. Then some strategies were put forward including speeding up infrastructures construction and techniques upgrading, strengthening the informatization and standardization construction, boosting the development of the third-party cold chain logistics and so on, which provided references for developing fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics in China. I. INTRODUCTION China is rich in fruits and vegetables. Vegetables industry and fruits industry have become the second and the third largest industry of planting industry in China, and China’s output of fruits and vegetables ranks first in the world.However, due to slow development of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics, it was difficult to achieve cross-region and cross-season sales, which gave rise to “large output, small sales” and directly restricted the increase of farmer’s income and resulted in the problems of “outputs accelerating without incomes increasing”, “low incomes of the farmers” in Chinese “Three Rural Issues”. Thus, accelerating the development of fruit and vegetable cold chain logistics will make important sense to the decrease of fruits and vegetables loss and the increase of farmer income. Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is a special supply chain that fruits and vegetables must be kept in the appropriate low temperature environment in the course of process, storage, transportation, distribution and retail, so as to guarantee the quality and decrease the loss as far as possible(the model is shown in Figure 1). Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics follow 3T principles that circulation time, temperature and tolerance must achieve the specific requirements of fruits and vegetables. At the same time, Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics must satisfy 3M conditions that cold storage means, methods and management must achieve certain requirements. At present, the vegetables cold chain logistics in the United States is the most typical. From harvest to sale, vegetables are kept in low physiological temperature, forming a chain as
pre-cooling---controlled atmosphere refrigerated storage--- refrigerated transportation---refrigeratedwholesale-- supermarket refrigerator---consumer refrigerator"TemperatureControlledin Whole ProcessDistributionTransportationFruitsandRefrigeratedDistributionDealersConsumersVegetablesStoragesCentersFigure1.ModeloffruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsII.STATUSOFFRUITSANDVEGETABLESCOLDCHAINLOGISTICSINCHINADuring "Tenth Five-Year" and “Eleventh Five-Year",“Modern Logistics Technology Researchand Demonstration of Agricultural Products" was listed as a key project by Science and TechnologyMinistry, and the technology of agriculture products logistics has been greatly improved. "Cold ChainLogistics Development Plan of Agricultural Productswas firstly promulgated on July 28, 2010.Itplaned to elevate the entire agricultural products cold chain logistics system through 6 years'efforts.In recent years, with the development of rural economy, and the increase of demand and supplycapability, fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics has been paid more attention and made furtherdevelopment. So far, fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics has been taken shape in China. Theproportion of cold chain logistics increase gradually: the rate of cold chain circulation has reached 5%and the rate of refrigerated transport has reached 15%. Infrastructures of fruits and vegetables coldchain logistics have been improved gradually.There were nearly 20oo0 cold storages, and the totalcold storage capacity was 8.8 million tons.There were 1910 mechanically refrigerated trains, 20000mechanically refrigerated vehicles, and the refrigerated ship tonnage of 100000 tons.The cold chainlogistics technology has gradually promoted, and cold chain logistics companies were beingestablished.However,fruitsandvegetablescoldchainlogisticsdevelopmentwasstill initsinfancyandnotperfect in China. Big loss occurred: fruits and vegetables loss proportion was under 5% in the courseof harvest, transportation, storage and other aspects in the developed countries, while the lossproportion was nearly 25% to 30% in China [6]. Low proportion existed: the proportion of fruits andvegetables cold chain logistics was over 95% in the developed countries, while most of the fruits andvegetables were still in circulation at room temperature in China.High costs remained:according tointernational standards, the costs of perishable food logistics do not exceed 50% of the total costs
“pre-cooling-controlled atmosphere refrigerated storage- refrigerated transportation-refrigerated wholesale- supermarket refrigerator- consumer refrigerator”. Figure 1. Model of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics. II. STATUS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS IN CHINA During “Tenth Five-Year” and “Eleventh Five-Year”, “Modern Logistics Technology Research and Demonstration of Agricultural Products” was listed as a key project by Science and Technology Ministry, and the technology of agriculture products logistics has been greatly improved. “Cold Chain Logistics Development Plan of Agricultural Products” was firstly promulgated on July 28, 2010. It planed to elevate the entire agricultural products cold chain logistics system through 6 years’ efforts. In recent years, with the development of rural economy, and the increase of demand and supply capability, fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics has been paid more attention and made further development. So far, fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics has been taken shape in China. The proportion of cold chain logistics increase gradually: the rate of cold chain circulation has reached 5% and the rate of refrigerated transport has reached 15%. Infrastructures of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics have been improved gradually. There were nearly 20000 cold storages, and the total cold storage capacity was 8.8 million tons. There were 1910 mechanically refrigerated trains, 20000 mechanically refrigerated vehicles, and the refrigerated ship tonnage of 100000 tons. The cold chain logistics technology has gradually promoted, and cold chain logistics companies were being established. However, fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics development was still in its infancy and not perfect in China. Big loss occurred: fruits and vegetables loss proportion was under 5% in the course of harvest, transportation, storage and other aspects in the developed countries, while the loss proportion was nearly 25% to 30% in China [6]. Low proportion existed: the proportion of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics was over 95% in the developed countries, while most of the fruits and vegetables were still in circulation at room temperature in China. High costs remained: according to international standards, the costs of perishable food logistics do not exceed 50% of the total costs
whilethatcost70%inChina.IIL.THEPROBLEMSOFFRUITSANDVEGETABLESCOLDCHAINLOGISTICSINCHINAA. The Inadequate Facilities and Backward Situation in Cold Chain Logistics TechniquesIn China, the infrastructures of cold chain logistics were seriously in shortage, on one hand, theper capita cold storage capacity was only 7 kilograms, on the other hand, the refrigerated vehiclesmade up only 0.3% of all the freight vehicles. All the refrigerated equipment were out of date and outof work, while the investments of new cold chain logistics facilities were not put in place and the areadistributionwere in imbalance.Duetothelack of lowtemperaturetreatment facilities,mostofthefreshfruits andvegetableswerekept in extensive operation.And theproportion ofthe post-productionvalue to natural value was 0.38: 1, while it was 3.7:1 in US, 3.2:1 in Canada.Many key nodes such as large fruits and vegetables wholesale markets and fruits and vegetablesdistribution centers were short of refrigerated facilities.Some remote areaswhichhadperfectcondition for planting fruits and vegetables had undeveloped traffic and less transportation routes.Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is a rising industry in China, while the education andresearch in logistics and distribution was still backward.The investment in the research anddevelopment of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics techniques was inadequate, so the techniqueswere backward and the achievements were few. There were only about 10 universities offering thespecialty and courses about the logistics, which was only 1% of all the universities in China. Thus, thesituation caused the shortage of talents, and restricted the development of cold chain logisticstechniquesand management.B.The Sluggish Development of Informatization and StandardizationThe informatization of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistic in China started much later thanother countries, and the level was lower. Firstly, information exchange and sharing was inadequate,which led to the asymmetrical information of the “"farmer difficult selling" and the “" customer difficultbuying"; secondly, it failed to monitor and control the changes in fruits and vegetables storageenvironment, thirdly, the information such as origin or the date of fruits and vegetables could not beinquired when fruits and vegetables were sold.The standardization has progressed in recent years in China, but it still couldn't satisfy the need offruits and vegetables industry. Firstly, it lacked uniform standards of facilities, equipment and othertechnical links,secondly,itlackeduniformstandardofkeepingtemperature,humidity,gasdensityandkeeping period; thirdly, it lacked the uniform standard of management and operation in the course ofcold chainlogistics.C.The Sluggish Development of The Third Party Cold Chain Logistics EnterprisesNow the main bodies of those taking part in fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics are farmers
while that cost 70% in China. III. THE PROBLEMS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS IN CHINA A. The Inadequate Facilities and Backward Situation in Cold Chain Logistics Techniques In China, the infrastructures of cold chain logistics were seriously in shortage, on one hand, the per capita cold storage capacity was only 7 kilograms, on the other hand, the refrigerated vehicles made up only 0.3% of all the freight vehicles. All the refrigerated equipment were out of date and out of work, while the investments of new cold chain logistics facilities were not put in place and the area distribution were in imbalance. Due to the lack of low temperature treatment facilities, most of the fresh fruits and vegetables were kept in extensive operation. And the proportion of the post-production value to natural value was 0.38: 1, while it was 3.7: 1 in US, 3.2:1 in Canada. Many key nodes such as large fruits and vegetables wholesale markets and fruits and vegetables distribution centers were short of refrigerated facilities. Some remote areas which had perfect condition for planting fruits and vegetables had undeveloped traffic and less transportation routes. Fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics is a rising industry in China, while the education and research in logistics and distribution was still backward. The investment in the research and development of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics techniques was inadequate, so the techniques were backward and the achievements were few. There were only about 10 universities offering the specialty and courses about the logistics, which was only 1% of all the universities in China. Thus, the situation caused the shortage of talents, and restricted the development of cold chain logistics techniques and management. B. The Sluggish Development of Informatization and Standardization The informatization of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistic in China started much later than other countries, and the level was lower. Firstly, information exchange and sharing was inadequate, which led to the asymmetrical information of the “farmer difficult selling” and the “customer difficult buying”; secondly, it failed to monitor and control the changes in fruits and vegetables storage environment; thirdly, the information such as origin or the date of fruits and vegetables could not be inquired when fruits and vegetables were sold. The standardization has progressed in recent years in China, but it still couldn’t satisfy the need of fruits and vegetables industry. Firstly, it lacked uniform standards of facilities, equipment and other technical links; secondly, it lacked uniform standard of keeping temperature, humidity, gas density and keeping period; thirdly, it lacked the uniform standard of management and operation in the course of cold chain logistics. C. The Sluggish Development of The Third Party Cold Chain Logistics Enterprises Now the main bodies of those taking part in fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics are farmers
wholesalers, and processing enterprises of fruits and vegetables. The farmers transport and keep thefruits and vegetables using simplemethods.Wholesalers andprocessing enterprisesfounded somelow-level and reconstruction logistic companies by themselves.Their service capability and scale wassmall and their service standards were not uniform, while the development of large and professionalFruits and Vegetables cold chain Logistic Enterprises was Sluggish.D.The Shortage of The Unified Planning and LayoutThe industrialization of agricultural was not well developed in China, and it lacked the overallplanand communication betweenupstreamanddownstream of fruits andvegetables cold chainlogistics. The development was unbalanced in the harvest, storage, transportation and other steps, andthe resources had not got optimized allocation. An investigation was shown that there werenotcoordinated software and hardware system for fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics to put intooperation at present because of lacking the unified arrangements and coordination.IV.THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OFFRUITSANDVEGETABLES COLDCHAINLOGISTICSINCHINAA.Speeding up The Facilities Construction and The Technologies UpgradeIt is necessary to build production-areas fruits and vegetables fresh systems that farmers canafford and operate in rural areas, meanwhile it is also necessary to build fruit and vegetable processingcenters and low temperature distribution centers in large and medium cities. Moreover governmentshould further improve the national fruit and vegetable green channel network. In order to guaranteethe transportation of domestic fruits and vegetables, it is urgently to speed up the research andapplication of energy saving and environmentally friendly refrigerated transport technologies,especially the research and application of the controlled atmosphere refrigerate techniques. Chinashould learntheadvanced experienceofforeigncountries,andthen importand absorb advancedfruitsand vegetables cold chain logistics techniques.The key to speed up the technologies upgrade is education. Logistics education system shouldinclude undergraduate education, postgraduate education and vocational education. Colleges shouldoffera series courses in logistics,so asto improvethetheoretical level.Because logistics employeesneed certain practical capacity, it is necessary to develop vocational education in China.B.Strengthening the Informatization and Standardization ConstructionInorderto achievethe informationsharingbetweenproducersand sellers,thereisa bad needtoestablish fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics public information platform including informationcollecting, processing,releasing and consulting. In order to dynamically and comprehensively monitorand control the environment of all cold chain links and the state of fruits and vegetables, the advancedinformation technology such as Management Information System (GIS & GPS) and Electronic DataInterchange system should be applied[8]. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the trendsfor cold chain logistics information technology. Using RFID technology, the changes of fruits and
wholesalers, and processing enterprises of fruits and vegetables. The farmers transport and keep the fruits and vegetables using simple methods. Wholesalers and processing enterprises founded some low-level and reconstruction logistic companies by themselves. Their service capability and scale was small and their service standards were not uniform, while the development of large and professional Fruits and Vegetables cold chain Logistic Enterprises was Sluggish. D. The Shortage of The Unified Planning and Layout The industrialization of agricultural was not well developed in China, and it lacked the overall plan and communication between upstream and downstream of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics. The development was unbalanced in the harvest, storage, transportation and other steps, and the resources had not got optimized allocation. An investigation was shown that there were not coordinated software and hardware system for fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics to put into operation at present because of lacking the unified arrangements and coordination. IV. THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES COLD CHAIN LOGISTICS IN CHINA A. Speeding up The Facilities Construction and The Technologies Upgrade It is necessary to build production-areas fruits and vegetables fresh systems that farmers can afford and operate in rural areas, meanwhile it is also necessary to build fruit and vegetable processing centers and low temperature distribution centers in large and medium cities. Moreover government should further improve the national fruit and vegetable green channel network. In order to guarantee the transportation of domestic fruits and vegetables, it is urgently to speed up the research and application of energy saving and environmentally friendly refrigerated transport technologies, especially the research and application of the controlled atmosphere refrigerate techniques. China should learn the advanced experience of foreign countries, and then import and absorb advanced fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics techniques. The key to speed up the technologies upgrade is education. Logistics education system should include undergraduate education, postgraduate education and vocational education. Colleges should offer a series courses in logistics, so as to improve the theoretical level. Because logistics employees need certain practical capacity, it is necessary to develop vocational education in China. B. Strengthening the Informatization and Standardization Construction In order to achieve the information sharing between producers and sellers, there is a bad need to establish fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics public information platform including information collecting, processing, releasing and consulting. In order to dynamically and comprehensively monitor and control the environment of all cold chain links and the state of fruits and vegetables, the advanced information technology such as Management Information System (GIS & GPS) and Electronic Data Interchange system should be applied[8]. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is one of the trends for cold chain logistics information technology. Using RFID technology, the changes of fruits and
vegetables temperature are recorded in the RFID tag with temperature sensor. Then the fresh degreeand quality can be managed finely and instantly.China should set technique standards (on pre-cooling, refrigeration, transportation, etc) andoperation standards(onpackaging,loadingandunloading,transportation,etc.)offruitsandvegetablescold chain logistics. In addition, government should apply quality and safety certification and marketaccess system. Those systems include Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), GoodManufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), International Organization forStandards (ISO), etc.C.Speedingup theDevelopment oftheThird PartyLogistics Companies and Rural Professional Cooperatives Government should follow theguidance of market and companies and provide support in policies and funding,so as to develop anumber of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics companies which have economic strength,advanced management and strong market competitiveness.Sharpening the independent innovationability is the central segment of developing the third party logistics. Meanwhile, it is necessary toencourage enterprises joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, so as to rapidly enhance cold-chainlogistics services in short-term and gradually become large third party cold chain logistics companies.In order to broaden channels, it is necessary to foster diversity and multi-level circulation bodies andadopt such organizational forms and service methods as commercial chains, physical distribution, theagency system and e-commerce. In addition, China should encourage and support farmers to developrural professional cooperatives.D.Making Unified Plans and LayoutsAs the existing equipment and facilities of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics were limitedit is more necessary to make full use of them. China should make unified plans to improve theutilization of them and develop the cold chain logistics step by step. It is also necessary to makeunified layouts, so as to optimize the allocation of resources and keep the balance of the developmentof each link. The exchanges and cooperation among origin, cold chain logistics enterprises, wholesalecenters, governments and research departments should be promoted.E.Formulating and Improving Relevant Policies and RegulationsMore support policies in finance and taxation should be formulated. On the basis of the existingpolicies and regulations, local governments should formulate relevant laws and regulations which aremore conducive to cold chain logistics according to local realities. In addition, being bound bypolicies and regulations, the markets order can be standardized and good development environmentcan becreated.V.CONCLUSIONThe output of fruits and vegetables in China is very large, and fruits and vegetables cold chainlogistics are important in national economic development. However, it was still at the starting stage in
vegetables temperature are recorded in the RFID tag with temperature sensor. Then the fresh degree and quality can be managed finely and instantly. China should set technique standards (on pre-cooling, refrigeration, transportation, etc) and operation standards (on packaging, loading and unloading, transportation, etc.) of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics. In addition, government should apply quality and safety certification and market access system. Those systems include Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), International Organization for Standards (ISO), etc. C. Speeding up the Development of the Third Party Logistics Companies and Rural Professional Cooperatives Government should follow the guidance of market and companies and provide support in policies and funding , so as to develop a number of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics companies which have economic strength, advanced management and strong market competitiveness. Sharpening the independent innovation ability is the central segment of developing the third party logistics. Meanwhile, it is necessary to encourage enterprises joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, so as to rapidly enhance cold-chain logistics services in short-term and gradually become large third party cold chain logistics companies. In order to broaden channels, it is necessary to foster diversity and multi-level circulation bodies and adopt such organizational forms and service methods as commercial chains, physical distribution, the agency system and e-commerce. In addition, China should encourage and support farmers to develop rural professional cooperatives. D. Making Unified Plans and Layouts As the existing equipment and facilities of fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics were limited, it is more necessary to make full use of them. China should make unified plans to improve the utilization of them and develop the cold chain logistics step by step. It is also necessary to make unified layouts, so as to optimize the allocation of resources and keep the balance of the development of each link. The exchanges and cooperation among origin, cold chain logistics enterprises, wholesale centers, governments and research departments should be promoted. E. Formulating and Improving Relevant Policies and Regulations More support policies in finance and taxation should be formulated. On the basis of the existing policies and regulations, local governments should formulate relevant laws and regulations which are more conducive to cold chain logistics according to local realities. In addition, being bound by policies and regulations, the markets order can be standardized and good development environment can be created. V. CONCLUSION The output of fruits and vegetables in China is very large, and fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics are important in national economic development. However, it was still at the starting stage in
China, and many problems existed. So it is urgently to take relevant measures to develop fruits andvegetables cold chain logistics, so as to reduce fruits and vegetables loss, reduce logistics costs,increase the income of farmers and achieve the sustained and sound development of fruits andvegetables industry
China, and many problems existed. So it is urgently to take relevant measures to develop fruits and vegetables cold chain logistics, so as to reduce fruits and vegetables loss, reduce logistics costs, increase the income of farmers and achieve the sustained and sound development of fruits and vegetables industry