China's logistics sector continues to expand

BEIJING - China's logistics sector remained in the expansionary zone in January although the upcoming Spring Festival holiday affected business activity, an industry index showed Tuesday.

A performance index for the sector stood at 53.3 in January, 1.7 points below the previous month but still above the 50-point demarcation level, according to data from the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that means contraction.

He Hui, deputy head of the China Logistics Information Center, attributed the lower reading to seasonal factors as business is usually slack ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, which begins on Feb 8 this time.

Storage business indices for consumer goods, such as food and home appliances, as well as machinery equipment ran at relatively high levels, reflecting strong logistics activity in those industries, He said.

An index for business expectations in the logistics sector rose by 1.6 points to 54.9 in January, showing that enterprises were upbeat about post-holiday business, according to the federation.

Chinese authorities are supporting the logistics industry in a bid to bolster consumption, as they hope it will emerge to play a bigger role in China's economy than investment.

Consumption contributed 66.4 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, up 15.4 percentage points from 2014, official data showed.