Linyi, which is close to the Beijing-Shanghai expressway and borders Jiangsu province, has become a major logistics hub connecting northern and southern China, local media reported.

The developed logistics sector has made Linyi a major wholesale trade hub in China, with the city home to 123 wholesale markets, in which more than 200,000 people are doing business with various commodities.

Two women use livestreaming to sell kids' shoes at an e-commerce livestreaming industrial park in Linyi, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The city boasts 23 logistics parks with more than 2,300 logistics businesses, over 20,000 freight vehicles, as well as more than 2,000 cargo routes, covering all cities above the county level and reaching all ports in China. The logistics prices are 30 percent lower than the national average.

Linyi Mall, which was founded in 1981 in the western suburb of Linyi, was one of the earliest professional wholesale market clusters established in China. It has since developed into the largest market cluster with the widest logistics coverage in China, as well as the largest logistics base in northern China.

In the first three quarters of this year, Linyi Mall achieved a market turnover of 398.3 billion yuan ($62.25 billion), a year-on-year growth of 63.7 percent, with its logistics business totaling 581.9 billion yuan, up 40 percent.

The city is also cultivating its e-commerce sector as more consumer spending has moved online during the COVID-19 period. The city has built 38 e-commerce parks and 117,900 online businesses. A project to build standardized and smart warehouses covering 5 million square meters has been carried out, of which 1.43 million square meters have been built.

Linyi's international trade is expanding as it uses the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity to integrate into China's new development paradigm of dual circulation, said local authorities.