BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's logistics demand maintained steady growth in the first three quarters of the year, supported by industrial upgrading and resilient high-end manufacturing, official data showed Sunday.
The total value of national social logistics reached 280 trillion yuan (about 41.7 trillion U.S. dollars) in the January-September period, up 4.9 percent year on year, according to data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
In the first three quarters, the value of industrial goods logistics rose 5.3 percent year on year, contributing 78 percent to the growth of the total.
Within this growth, equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing played a prominent leading role, with their shares rising to 37.6 percent and 18.3 percent, respectively, according to the federation.
Logistics volumes for new products such as smart wristbands, 3D printing equipment and sensors surged 77.1 percent, 62.5 percent and 16.4 percent year on year, respectively, highlighting an accelerated shift toward new and upgraded industrial logistics demand, the data showed.
From January to September, the total cost of social logistics reached 14.8 trillion yuan, up 4.2 percent year on year. The ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP stood at 13.8 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the same period last year.
"The dividends of logistics cost reduction continue to be released to the real economy," said Liu Yuhang, chief engineer of the federation.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Liu said that with the arrival of the e-commerce peak season and the year-end production rush, logistics demand is expected to be released in a concentrated manner.
High-quality logistics development will provide strong support for the recovery of the real economy and the achievement of the full-year economic and social development goals, he said. ■
