Chinese tray industry

The Chinese tray industry has achieved a systematic transition from 'inefficient bulk' to 'standard intelligence' in the past decade. The market size continues to expand, with an annual production of 387 million pallets and a retention of over 1.82 billion pallets in 2024. The market share of plastic pallets has steadily increased from 16% in 2020 to over 18% in 2025, gradually replacing wooden pallets as the mainstream. The main reasons for this are their corrosion resistance, ease of cleaning, long lifespan (up to 8 years), and high compatibility with automation equipment; Wooden pallets continue to shrink in application scenarios due to their susceptibility to mold, large size errors, and high repair rates. The policy strongly drives standardization, and by 2025, the standardization rate of pallets will increase to 38.5%. The country will promote the circular sharing of 1.2m × 1m standard pallets, and the scale of public pallet pools will exceed 50 million pieces by 2024. The transportation and leasing sharing mode with pallets will reduce the comprehensive cost of enterprises by more than 80%. The material technology continues to upgrade, with new HDPE materials and honeycomb structures becoming standard for high-end pallets. The penetration rate of metal pallets in high demand scenarios such as cold chain, pharmaceuticals, and exports is steadily increasing. Digital management is beginning to emerge, and RFID and IoT applications are entering the pilot stage, laying the foundation for the intelligent tray system.