Published on: March 22, 2025 / update from: March 22, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Cooling logistics defies global economic doldrums: growth and perspectives of the global market - picture: Xpert.digital
Cooling logistics: growth sponsor in difficult times
Global indispensable: Why the cooling logistics is booming
The cooling logistics sector is remarkably resistant to the economic challenges of our time. With a forecast growth of 1.6 percent for 2023, the industry exceeds the previous year's growth and demonstrates its persistent importance in the global supply chain. This positive development is particularly remarkable against the background of the general economic weakening.
The market development of cooling logistics in a global context
According to estimates by the Transport Intelligence consultant, the value of the global cooling logistics market achieved a remarkable 764.2 billion euros in 2022. This corresponds to an increase of 1.5 percent compared to the 752.8 billion euros in 2021. For 2023, an accelerated growth of 1.6 percent is predicted, which is expected to increase the market to 776.8 billion euros. This positive development underlines the crisis resistance of the sector compared to other logistics areas.
Within Europe, the market for food cooling chain logistics will probably reach $ 68.55 billion in 2024 and will continue to expand with an impressive annual growth rate of 8.97 percent. In contrast, the European contract logistics market in 2023 should only grow by 0.6 percent and reach a value of around 74.1 billion euros. This comparison illustrates the special robustness of the cooling logistics compared to other logistics segments.
The development in the area of temperature monitoring technologies for cold chains is also remarkable. The worldwide market size for monitoring the cooling chain temperature was estimated at $ 5996.1 million in 2023 and is expected to grow to $ 22616.5 million by 2032, which corresponds to an annual growth of impressive 16 percent.
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Regional differences in growth
The growth rates of cooling logistics vary significantly between different world regions. While Europe has moderate growth, the Asia-Pacific region is considered the fastest growing market. The growth of the global market is largely driven by this region, where the services in the field of logistics should increase by 5.7 percent by 2023.
The United States, China, India, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Brazil include the largest actors in the global cooling logistics. These countries have made considerable investments in their cooling logistics infrastructure and use the latest technologies to ensure the efficiency and reliability of their cooling chains.
Driving factors of growth in cooling logistics
The main factor for the continuing expansion of cooling logistics is the continuous worldwide growth of both food production and food consumption for more than two decades. Especially in emerging countries, where hundreds of millions of people have overcome poverty in recent decades, the demand for high -quality, temperature -managed foods increases steadily.
Globalization and growth of world trade have promoted the import of food and agricultural products from distant countries, which requires the transport of the products under controlled temperature conditions. This reflects the improved living conditions that enable more people to afford more expensive frozen or cooled import products.
In addition, the increasing penetration of the e-commerce sector has accelerated the growth of cooling logistics. On average, 62 percent of consumers in Europe used online shopping channels in 2022. This development has presented traditional retailers with challenges and caused many considerable investments in order to compete with pure online sellers.
Technological developments as a growth driver
Cooling logistics are increasingly benefiting from technological innovations, especially in the area of temperature monitoring. The use of cooling chain tracking and control solutions contributes to safer shipping and sales, certified deliveries, higher product integrity/quality and achieving foresight maintenance.
These technologies enable precise real -time monitoring and historical analysis of the refrigerator chain by logging essential environmental features for cold chain products. This can increase operational effectiveness and general customer satisfaction.
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The central role of China in the global cooling logistics market
China plays a central role in the cooling logistics market and significantly shapes global development. As the world's largest food importer, the country has a significant impact on the international trade flows.
Although China is the largest producer of pork, the country still imports considerable quantities. The value of the imports of this meat alone from the United States exceeded a billion US dollars in 2022. In 2021, China imported over 4 million tons of pork, while in 2014 it was only 1 million tons. This development underlines the growing importance of cooling logistics in these markets.
However, China's pork imports have been declining since their climax. In 2023, China imported a total of 2.64 million tons of pork and by -products from the pig, which corresponds to a decline of 5.2 percent compared to 2022. This is mainly due to the reconstruction of the Chinese pigs after the African swine fever. The total stock was increased by almost 100 million pigs within 12 months.
Europe's role as a supplier for the Chinese market
The EU remains the most important pork supplier for China, but is increasingly losing market shares in North America. In total, around half of the Chinese imports of pork and by-products came from EU countries in 2023. The most important delivery countries were Spain with almost 602,000 tons, the Netherlands with around 241,000 tons and Denmark with around 234,000 tons.
However, many EU countries again had to accept sensitive declines in the delivery quantities. Germany, which was still the fourth country of origin for China's import of pork at $ 1.217 billion to Spain, the USA and Brazil in 2020, has been largely excluded from this market since the appearance of the African swine plague in Brandenburg.
Future prospects for the cooling logistics market
The prospects for the cooling logistics market remain positive. Transport Intelligence predicts that China and other emerging countries will contribute significantly to the growth of cooling logistics in the coming years. The fresh meat market in China is expected to increase from $ 64.7 billion in 2023 to $ 159.6 billion in 2027, which corresponds to an increase of 109 percent.
For special segments such as monitoring the cooling chain temperature, an even greater growth is expected. With a forecast annual growth rate of 16 percent, this market is expected to grow to over $ 22 billion by $ 2032 in 2023. This development underlines the increasing importance of quality assurance and traceability in the cold chain.
The development of efficient cooling stores and transports is becoming increasingly important in view of the growing demand and focus on sustainability. Frozen bearings have high electricity consumption and must therefore be built particularly efficiently. Innovations are also particularly required when transporting cooling efficiently.
Technological innovations drive the growth of cooling logistics
The cooling logistics market proves to be remarkably resistant to economic challenges and shows continuous growth. With a forecast increase of 1.6 percent for 2023, the industry exceeds the previous year's growth and underlines its strategic importance for global food supply.
The driving factors for this growth are diverse: the continued worldwide growth of food production and consumption, the improved living conditions in emerging countries, globalization of trade and technological innovations in temperature monitoring. China in particular plays a central role in the development of the global cooling logistics market as the largest food importer.
The future prospects remain positive, especially for emerging countries and technology -oriented segments in the industry. Companies that invest in innovative solutions for efficient cooling stores and transports will be able to benefit from the growing demand for temperature -managed logistics services.
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