The truth behind J&T Express teaming up with SF Express has been revealed.

In mid-January this year, a much-anticipated scene unfolded in the logistics industry: as China’s express delivery sector entered a period of consolidation of existing capacity due to slowing growth, Shunfeng Holding, a long-established logistics service provider that dominates the mid-to-high-end market, and J&T Express, which focuses on e-commerce parcels, jointly announced a cross-shareholding agreement worth HK$8.3 billion.

Market participants viewed this “huddling together for mutual support” move as highly complementary, and the latest financial report released by J&T Express further shows why it was necessary.

On March 30, J&T Express released its 2025 full-year performance. Last year, in its largest single market, China, J&T handled 22.07 billion parcels, up 11.4% year over year, but its market share fell from 11.3% in 2024 to 11.1%. At the same time, the adjusted EBIT attributable to the China market declined from US$150 million in 2024 to US$93.855 million.

Evidently, in China’s “anti-price-wars” stock-of-capacity game, J&T urgently needs to shift from a “price war” to a “value war.”

As J&T Express’ Chief Financial Officer, Zheng Shiqiang, revealed, in China, J&T continued to optimize operations last year to lower costs, driving its cost per parcel to an all-time low of US$0.28.

Cooperation with Shunfeng will undoubtedly help J&T further optimize costs in the domestic market.

However, the growth space that the domestic market can offer J&T is now very limited; even more attractive opportunities lie in the vast global market.

What particularly pleases investors is that after nearly three years of investment and operations in new markets such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Mexico, J&T achieved, for the first time, a swing to profitability on an adjusted EBIT basis, recording US$3.777 million.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia—its home base—J&T achieved a three-win outcome of “incremental growth, expanding market share, and increasing profits.” Adjusted EBIT rose 77.5% year over year to US$540 million.

Benefiting from growth in overseas markets, J&T’s total revenue for the full year last year reached US$12.16 billion, up 18.5% year over year. Adjusted net profit was US$430 million, up 112.3% year over year, exceeding Bloomberg’s consensus expectations. Total parcel volume first surpassed the 30 billion mark, reaching 30.13 billion parcels, up 22.2% year over year.

However, this global expansion is undoubtedly costly.

To support its massive cross-border parcel volume network, J&T has continued investing in heavy-asset infrastructure worldwide. By the end of 2025, J&T Express’ express delivery business covered 13 countries, had about 19,300 outlets, operated 246 transshipment centers, and had more than 13,300 linehaul vehicles.

It is these capacity investments on a large scale that have enabled close cooperation with global cross-border e-commerce platforms such as SHEIN, Temu, TikTok, and AliExpress, and also led to a partnership with Mercado Libre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America.

J&T’s management disclosed that it is conducting research into potential opportunities in other Latin American countries and regions such as Europe and North America.

But to capture market opportunities as global e-commerce penetration rises rapidly, J&T must further increase the density of its global express delivery network.

In its financial report, J&T mentioned that the company’s strategic cross-shareholding with Shunfeng will drive both sides to carry out deeper cooperation. By integrating each other’s overseas and cross-industry logistics resources and terminal network resources, it will enhance global network coverage capabilities and service efficiency, which will be beneficial for the company’s expansion in overseas regional markets.

As J&T has historically crossed the profitability inflection point in new markets, combined with its deep linkage with Shunfeng at the level of underlying resources, J&T has not only deepened its moat in per-parcel economic efficiency, but also opened up broad growth space for its transition from a “regional express black horse” to a “global integrated logistics giant.”

In this battle targeting the global supply chain, Chinese-funded companies have already moved onto the stage comprehensively. And what J&T has in hand is no longer just a blade for a price war, but long-term leverage based on synergies between its global network and capital.

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