China's logistics sector reports slower growth

BEIJING - 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) 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.