China's logistics and purchasing volume rose 15.3 percent year on year to 26.8 trillion yuan (US$3.35 trillion) in the first six months of this year, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

The growth rate was 1 percentage point lower than the same period last year, the federation's latest data shows.

The logistics and purchasing volume of industrial goods hit 23.4 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent, while the logistics and purchasing volume of farm products amounted to 461.5 billion yuan, up 5.1 percent.

During the six-month period, China's total expenditure on logistics and purchasing came to 1678.6 billion yuan, a rise of 14.7 percent over the same period of last year.

Added value for the sector stood at 646.3 billion yuan, up 11.8 percent, or 17 percent of the country's total added value in the service sector.

The federation said fixed assets investment in logistics and purchasing in the January-June period totaled 432.2 billion yuan, an increase of 20.7 percent year on year. The growth rate was 5.9 percentage points lower than that of the same period of 2005. 

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2006)