Logistics sector reports slower growth

Slower growth was reported in China's logistics sector for the first five months of 2013 on Monday, with goods worth 75.1 trillion yuan (12.15 trillion U.S. dollars) moving around the country.

The sector's 9.2-percent year-on-year growth in the first five months slowed by a further 0.2 percentage points from the January-April period, according to data released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

Costs in the logistics sector rose 9.0 percent year on year to 3.7 trillion yuan and the growth rate was down 0.4 percentage points from the January-April period and down 3 percentage points from the same period of last year.

The China Coastal Dry Index, an indicator of the ups and downs of the logistics sector, fell 8.6 percent year on year between the start of January and the end of May, compared with a decline of 11.6 percent in the Baltic Dry Index, an assessment of the cost of moving major raw materials by sea globally.