China's logistics sector posts steady growth in 2018

BEIJING - China's logistics sector posted steady growth in 2018, with the value of goods carried by the sector up 6.4 percent year-on-year to 283.1 trillion yuan ($42.3 trillion).

The growth rate was slightly down by 0.2 percentage points from 2017, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

Logistics expenditures rose 9.8 percent to 13.3 trillion yuan, amounting to 14.8 percent of last year's GDP. The share was slightly up from the previous year.

Among the total, transportation expenditure rose 6.5 percent, while storage and management costs both surged more than 13 percent, showing greater efficiency in the transportation process.

Total revenue of the sector expanded 14.5 percent last year to 10.1 trillion yuan, 3 percentage points faster than 2017.

The sector's steady performance was generally in line with its economic growth at 6.6 percent in 2018, above an annual target of around 6.5 percent.