► Text Observer Network Zhou Yi
Brazilians' food, clothing, housing and transportation have been "wrapped up" by Chinese companies?
A street interview in São Paulo has recently sparked heated discussions on social media.
"My headphones are Chinese products, they are still in use, and they function very well." Facing the camera, local people said that there are simply countless such examples, and Chinese products can now be used in various places of daily life: POCO Xiaomi mobile phones, JAC Jianghuai cars... More and more Chinese brands have flown into thousands of households.
Huawei, Shein, Tiktok... Chinese elements that can be seen everywhere are increasingly enriching the daily lives of Brazilians.
In the eyes of locals, cross-border e-commerce and cross-border logistics are changing the face of Brazil.
"They brought a lot from China."
Chinese companies, writing "China speed" in Brazil
You know, in the past, this is something that you dare not think about.
Geographically, South America is the "furthest" place from China.
If a person wants to fly from China to Brazil, the flight distance is often more than 25 hours.
But with the development of cross-border logistics, "Tianya" is already close at hand.
Source: National Geographic Information Public Service Platform "Sky Map"
In the past, it took 40-50 days for e-commerce packages from China to arrive in Brazil, but after the Chinese logistics company Cainiao opened the Hong Kong-Sao Paulo freight route, the time has been greatly reduced to 12 days.
Cross-border logistics between China and Pakistan has ushered in a great speed, allowing Latin American consumers' demand for Chinese goods to be further satisfied.
Chinese companies investing in logistics construction in Brazil have sparked media discussions
Brazil is one of the farthest countries in the world from China. In recent years, trade between the two countries has become increasingly active, Chinese enterprises have launched local operations, production and investment activities, and Chinese logistics enterprises have begun to build smart logistics networks for the local area.
This has brought about great changes: on the one hand, the entry of Chinese logistics companies has changed the face of cross-border logistics and local logistics in Brazil; On the other hand, Chinese logistics enterprises have also brought cutting-edge technology, advanced concepts and mature management here, and started a "new infrastructure".
With more and more software and hardware facilities and equipment landed, Chinese logistics companies are writing a new story of "Chinese speed" in Brazil. The excellent examples that have emerged have also become windows to show the world China's cooperation and openness.
Why China?
When it comes to Brazil, many people tend to think of the "football kingdom" and "samba kingdom", a country known for its enthusiasm.
But don't forget that Brazil is not only the world's 5th most populous country, but also the 12th largest economy in the world and the 1st largest in South America, and its gross domestic product (GDP) last year was comparable to that of Russia; For example, Brazil is not only a major exporter of agricultural products and mineral resources, but also a country with a relatively complete industrial system and a strong industrial base.
Boeing and Airbus from Europe and the United States are familiar to everyone, in contrast, the "South American Eagle" is a bit of a hidden merit and fame.
Embraer is the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer in the world and a world leader in the production of regional aircraft with less than 120 seats. From its foray into the Chinese market in 2000 to July 2019, Embraer delivered 190 aircraft to China – but the cooperation between China and Pakistan over the years has not stopped there.
In the development of regional aviation in China
Embraer ERJ145 aircraft played an important role
Source: Civil Aviation Network of China
Since 2009, China has been Brazil's largest trading partner for the 13th consecutive year.
According to annual statistics released by Brazil's Ministry of Economy in January this year, the bilateral trade volume between China and Brazil reached US$135.347 billion last year, a record high, a significant increase of 32% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that Brazil is a country with a trade surplus with China, and the trade cooperation between the two countries is also very close.
Known as the "granary of the world" of the future, Brazilian soybeans, iron ore, oil, beef, chemical wood pulp, sugar, chicken, pork, cotton, alloys continue to pour into China; And ships, machinery, electronics, integrated circuits from China ... It is constantly changing the local production and life in Brazil.
Over the years, China and Brazil have carried out in-depth cooperation in infrastructure construction. For example, the consortium of Chinese enterprises has previously signed a contract to build the Salvador-Itaparica bridge in Brazil, which will inject impetus into the economy, employment and people's livelihood in northeast Brazil. In mutually beneficial cooperation, China is silently changing Brazil.
The Salvador-Itaparica Bridge in Brazil is the largest cable-stayed bridge across the sea in Latin America
The cooperation between China and Pakistan goes far beyond commodity trade and "major country infrastructure".
In China-Pakistan economic cooperation, Chinese private enterprises have played many positive roles. For example, companies such as Cainiao and Jitu have laid out logistics in Brazil and built a "highway network" for the Latin American e-commerce industry; For Brazilian users, Chinese e-commerce platforms such as Shein and AliExpress are no strangers at all...
China and Brazil are not only commercial relations between goods, China brings Brazil not only foreign exchange and commodities, but also advanced technology, an open atmosphere, and the concept of bravely pursuing a happy life.
China and Pakistan are actually a partnership of all-round cooperation. Chinese companies have a tendency to go overseas, while Brazil has the soil for innovation, and the two sides are deeply in harmony. Over the years, China has never regarded Brazil as a "raw material production area + consumer market", but complements each other's advantages, equals and reciprocity, and builds an ecology together.
The overseas expansion of Chinese logistics enterprises is the first vivid example. China not only sends high-quality domestic freight to Brazil, but also helps build a new logistics network there, and even builds a stage for Brazilian merchants to explore the market in China.
China's logistics "new infrastructure" has given Brazilian e-commerce a pair of soaring wings
The cooperation between Chinese logistics and Brazilian e-commerce enterprises is a model of people-to-people exchanges between China and Brazil.
This starts with the basic structure of the Brazilian economy.
Although Brazil is the "breadbasket of the world", it is a large country in mineral resources, and has an industrial system such as aviation that Brazilians are proud of. However, from the perspective of industrial structure, the tertiary industry is a pillar industry in Brazil. According to the World Bank, Brazil's agriculture, industry and services accounted for 5.9%, 17.7% and 72.8% of GDP in 2020, respectively.
Brazil's primary, secondary and tertiary industries accounted for the share of GDP from 2016 to 2020
Data source: World Bank database
In 2020, investment, consumption and exports accounted for 15.4%, 83.2% and 1.4% of Brazil's GDP, respectively. For a country as economically and populous as Brazil, consumption plays a very important role. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, Brazil's economic and social life has suffered a considerable impact. Brazilian e-commerce knows this best.
Survey data released by Brazil's National E-Commerce Association shows that Brazilian e-commerce platform sales increased by 74% in 2021 compared to 2019. The data also shows that 80% of Brazil's international parcels come from China. It can be said that the vigorous development of Brazil's e-commerce industry is inseparable from its own "infrastructure" - logistics.
Especially in recent years, the development of e-commerce in Brazil is in full swing, and it is more urgent to need a more efficient logistics system that matches e-commerce.
Chinese logistics companies, especially the leading logistics enterprises, have solid scientific and technological strength as support, and at the same time have a strong digital intelligent transportation network and rich operating experience at home and abroad, which has naturally become the first choice for Brazilian e-commerce. For example, Cainiao's full-link services cover more than 100 countries around the world, with an average of 5 million cross-border parcels per day.
What's more, the Chinese rookie, who is internationally styled, is not ambiguous at all when it comes to Brazilian localization.
According to Brazil's largest economic and trade semi-monthly magazine "EXAME" magazine, in the next three years, Cainiao plans to deploy 9 distribution centers in Brazil and deploy 1,000 sets of smart express cabinets in Top10 cities. Brazil, a distant country on the other side of the world, can also enjoy the "Chinese speed" of express logistics.
This has been widely praised by local enterprises and people, but also sparked heated discussions in the global media.
Cainiao Brazil's three-year development plan sparks heated discussions Screenshot of local media reports
Chinese speed, Chinese efficiency, Chinese quality, Chinese wisdom... This is the "Chinese style".
Rookie, how did logistics change Brazil?
First of all, Cainiao will continue to send high-quality products from Chinese merchants to Brazil. Cainiao charters flights between China and Brazil eight times a week, allowing Chinese cross-border merchants to deliver packages to Brazilian consumers in as little as 12 days – previously it took two months for logistics between China and Brazil.
On this basis, Cainiao deeply integrates its business into Brazil's local e-commerce ecosystem. In addition to serving cross-border merchants from China to Brazil, Cainiao has also begun to work with Brazilian partners to build a local express delivery service network, covering more than 1,000 cities, mainly serving local Brazilian brands and retailers.
Cainiao also continues to optimize and upgrade its own services, promoting the "new infrastructure" of Brazilian e-commerce into a new stage.
For example, under the impact of the epidemic, many Brazilian real economies have transformed to go online. To this end, Cainiao has built a highly localized express logistics network for it this year and deployed a smart distribution center.
Previously, many Brazilian companies were constrained by hundreds of millions of logistics equipment and could not speed up logistics. Cainiao's distribution center is flexible, efficient, and costly, and adopts a self-developed overseas distribution system, which can increase the parcel sorting rate by more than 40%, realizing over-the-day delivery in key cities, which almost reaches the express delivery speed in China.
In addition, Cainiao has also brought Chinese smart express cabinets to Brazil, whether it is online shopping, takeaway or errand pickup, it can achieve contactless receipt, which can be called the new public infrastructure in Brazil in the post-epidemic era.
In the future, Cainiao also plans to help local businesses enter the Chinese market, so that merchants and consumers in China and Pakistan will move from "connection of things" to "connection of hearts".
Behind the "co-production" of Chinese logistics companies such as Cainiao and Brazil's e-commerce industry is the organic combination of local logistics and cross-border logistics in Brazil, from express cabinets, to smart distribution centers, and then to smart logistics networks, Chinese enterprises have brought a mature logistics system to Brazil from point to line, from line to surface.
When sharing Cainiao's internationalization, Cainiao CEO Wan Lin said that the construction of Cainiao's international logistics channel adopts the strategy of combining "hard connectivity" of infrastructure and "soft connectivity" of digital intelligence construction.
This also provides a reference for the internationalization of Brazil's logistics industry: Cainiao's distribution center and self-pickup cabinet are "hard connected", while its automation system is "soft connection". Such a "combination of soft and hard" overall layout, its structure is more three-dimensional, richer, but also more scientific and efficient.
Cainiao is located in the Smart Distribution Center in São Paulo, Brazil
Logistics going to sea, a different kind of Chinese story
For many Chinese consumers, anytime, two-day or same-day delivery is not uncommon nowadays.
But globally, not everyone can have this luck.
For Brazilian consumers, the geographical distance between China and Brazil is a gap that needs to be crossed - because of the distance, e-commerce shopping is very much in need of efficient and low-cost logistics support. For people, logistics is the new infrastructure.
To some extent, logistics efficiency can even be said to be the foundation and key to trade between the two sides.
Chinese logistics companies such as Cainiao not only play the role of a bridge: bringing high-quality domestic products to Brazil and introducing Brazilian specialty goods to China. At the same time, China's logistics industry has also planted smart logistics networks to Latin America, using "new infrastructure" to help Brazil and even the entire Latin American region achieve economic development and transformation.
More importantly, Chinese start with small things and continue to enrich and improve the lives of local people.
Through Cainiao, Piticas' customers in Brazil receive trendy peripherals in an average of 2-3 days
"The flexible and efficient Chinese e-commerce platform and express logistics are an opportunity for Brazilian brands to enter the Chinese market." Zhou Zhiwei, executive director of the Brazilian Research Center of the Latin American Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that at present, China-Brazil trade is mainly based on bulk trade. China's express logistics can open up and connect the majority of end consumers, which is conducive to driving Brazil's local industrial upgrading and economic quality improvement.
China is a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, ranking first in the world in terms of total trade in goods and attracting foreign capital and foreign investment. Over the years, China has adhered to the basic national policy of opening up to the outside world, firmly pursued the strategy of opening up for mutual benefit and win-win results, continuously provided new opportunities for the world with China's new development, promoted the construction of an open world economy, and better benefited the people of all countries.
It is becoming easier and easier for us to see that Chinese private enterprises are actively engaged in the cause of high-level opening up, and sowing more Chinese goods, Chinese technology and Chinese ideas to all over the world. Just as Chinese logistics companies have landed, taken root and blossomed in Brazil, Chinese companies share not only commodities and technologies, but also a hopeful tomorrow with foreign countries.
Exchange and learn from each other, and work with people around the world who pursue happiness to build an open and inclusive world.
This is the wonderful story written by China's logistics going to sea, they are not finished, they have never left.