China's logistics industry picks up

BEIJING - The total value of goods carried by China's logistics industry grew 9.7 percent year on year to reach 163.4 trillion yuan ($26 trillion) in the first 11 months of 2012, an industry association said Sunday.

The growth was 0.1 percentage point bigger than that for the first 10 months, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said in a statement.

Fixed asset investment in the industry surged 22.2 percent year on year to 3.5 trillion yuan in the first 11 months, as the country invested in transportation infrastructure in the latter half of the year.

However, total expenses of logistics remained high, indicating that the sector still has relatively low efficiency.

Logistics expenses in the first 11 months surged 11.9 percent year on year to 8 trillion yuan, up 0.4 percentage point from the first 10 months. the CFLP said.

Data from the federation showed that total expenses during the first half of the year represented 18 percent of China's GDP during the same period, much higher than the ratio in most developed economies.