China's social logistics to grow six pct in 2016: MOC

China expects its social logistics volume to rise 6 percent year on year in 2016, mainly due to strong demand for consumption-related logistics services, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Friday.

Growth for everyday logistics services such as e-commerce gained steam in the second quarter, rising 46.1 percent year on year in the first half of the year, according to an MOC report.

The report estimates that logistics demand for production material such as commodities may remain sluggish, while growth for commercial logistics such as consumer goods and food will remain strong in H2.

Logistics has become a key pillar of China's economic growth. The central government aims to lift e-commerce transaction volumes to 43.8 trillion yuan (about 6.62 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2020, and increase the number of courier parcels to 50 billion per year in 2020, up from 20.6 billion parcels last year.

New tax policies for cross-border e-commerce which took effect in April could put a drag on logistics growth, but will contribute to sustainable and regulated growth in the long term, the report said.

Despite rapid growth, China's commercial logistics still have much to do to improve cold chain services, develop infrastructure in rural areas and reduce the tax burden, the report added. Endi