Fixed-assets investment in China's logistics and related sectors amounted to 1.068 trillion yuan (156.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters of this year, sources with China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing said on Saturday.

The investment grew 13.5 percent on the same period of last year, nearly 14 percentage points lower than that for the total fixed-assets input nationwide or 5.3 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level.

The investment in logistics and relate sectors included 774.8 billion yuan in transport business, up 8.2 percent. The growth rate was five percentage points lower than the year-earlier level.

The sources said social logistics volume totaled 68.1 trillion yuan in the January-September period, up 26.7 percent. The growth rate was 1.2 percentage points higher.

But the sector's operation cost rose 36 percent, three percentage points higher than that for the sector's business revenue, the sources added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2008)