Southwest China’s Agricultural Materials Corridor Boosts Supply Security and Logistics Efficiency

The travel time for goods from Fuling in Chongqing to Qinzhou Port in Guangxi has been shortened from 23 days to 2 days, with the transportation cost per container reduced by about 1,800 yuan. Chemical fertilizers departing from Fuling can reach Liaoning in Northeast China in 7 days, just in time for spring ploughing. This remarkable efficiency gain is just a glimpse of China’s first major agricultural materials circulation corridor – the Southwest Agricultural Materials Backbone Circulation Corridor.

On April 28, the 2nd Promotion Conference on the Construction of the Southwest Agricultural Materials Backbone Circulation Corridor was held in Fuling, Chongqing. Approximately 150 representatives from the National Development and Reform Commission, All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, relevant departments of six provinces and cities including Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Chongqing, 15 cities along the corridor, key agricultural materials enterprises and industry associations attended the conference to conduct in-depth exchanges on agricultural materials supply guarantee and corridor construction.

Officially launched in February 2025, the corridor is accelerating its development into a core support for the national chemical fertilizer supply and price stability, a key logistics channel for the development and opening-up of western China, and a strong engine for high-quality regional economic development. Over the past year, 15 cities in six provinces have worked together, forming a circulation pattern of "north-south connection, east-west mutual assistance, and integration of production, supply, storage, marketing and transportation". The corridor’s chemical fertilizer production capacity has exceeded 42 million tons, with significantly shortened cross-provincial emergency supply response cycles and narrowed fluctuations in agricultural materials prices.

As the host of the conference, Fuling, the only national core grain logistics hub city in Chongqing, has invested over 3 billion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period to build a modern port system. In 2025, the cargo throughput of Fuling Port reached 50.686 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%, with the throughput of Longtou Port doubling for three consecutive years. Fuling has fully promoted the multi-modal transport "single bill system" and launched a smart logistics platform, advancing the digital transformation of port operations.

In the industrial sector, relying on the stable supply capacity of 2 million cubic meters of chemical fertilizer feed gas per day from shale gas fields, Fuling has leveraged the leading role of enterprises such as Sinofert Chongqing Fuling Chemical Industry and Jianfeng Chemical Industry. Sinofert Chongqing Fuling Chemical Industry, a member enterprise of Sinochem Group, a Fortune Global 500 company, has an annual chemical fertilizer production capacity of 2 million tons. Together, these enterprises have formed a supply guarantee scale of 850,000 tons of synthetic ammonia, 900,000 tons of phosphate fertilizer and 1.32 million tons of urea annually.

Kou Rong, Deputy Director of the Department of Economic and Trade of the National Development and Reform Commission, noted that cities along the corridor should take the opportunity of corridor construction to integrate the southwest region into the national unified market. Ling Jian, Deputy Director of Chongqing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, stated that Chongqing will fully support the implementation of corridor construction tasks. Dong Yifeng, District Chief of Fuling, said Fuling is willing to work with all parties to accelerate the construction of the southwest "agricultural materials artery".

Representatives from relevant departments and enterprises, including Lutianhua and Jianfeng Chemical Industry, expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation in production, reserve and transportation to maintain the stability of the agricultural materials market. The corridor, focusing on supply guarantee, opening-up and industrial chain strengthening, is transforming from a blueprint into reality, injecting solid momentum into national food security and regional coordinated development.