The onslaught of the pandemic is clearly sending the 2020 world economy into negative growth, but the new economy has emerged a winner.
Mega-enterprises keenly attuned to market conditions like SF Express are even using the opportunity to expand.
The famous logistics company is expanding its business on at least two fronts, one of which is air cargo delivery.
Demand in this sector has surged as courier services by passenger flights, which used to account for half of air cargo delivery, has been all but paralyzed.
Taking up the slack, SF Express saw its April air cargo delivery volume go up, with the number of weekly flights rising to 160, exceeding even November's Singles' Day peak.
To cater for the sudden swell in demand, airlines are converting passenger planes to all-cargo ones.
SF Express now has a fleet of 58 cargo aircraft, with an additional 13 chartered ones.
Growth in the mainland freight market has been slower than expected in the past few years, but the sluggishness has been reversed by the pandemic.
Riding the "easterly winds," SF Express has worked hard to exploit the market, opening seven international routes and also increasing flights to southeast Asian destinations with the aim of establishing an edge with an international logistics network.
Apart from cargo delivery, there are recent reports that the company also intends to make a foray into the takeout market to compete with giants like Meituan.
On this front, SF Express has in its favor rich experience in logistics, as well as in fighting price wars, as it has been doing so with its competitors for years.
With the need to practice physical distancing, demand for takeout services can only go up.
There are high market expectations for this sector, as can be seen from the market capitalization of Meituan, which has risen to more than HK$600 billion.
But only a limited number of enterprises have the clout to pose a challenge to the behemoth.
SF Express is obviously one - mere reports about its plan to go into the takeout market put pressure on Meituan's share price at one point.
Siu Sai-wo is publisher of Sing Tao Daily
SF Holdings founder Wang Wei
