A senior official in the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said the trade amount of e-business conducted in China topped 3 trillion yuan last year, according to a May 3 Xinhua report. Nie Linhai said the gross transaction volume of electronic business totaled 3.1 trillion yuan (US$454.55 billion) in 2008, up 43 percent over 2007.

Nie also said that small and medium-sized companies who have incorporated e-business to their operations are coping with the economic downturn far better than those who have not done so. Statistics show that 84.2 percent of companies reporting a decline in business have no e-business presence.

The transaction volume of China's logistics industry grew to 89.9 trillion yuan (US$13.18 trillion) in 2008, up 19.5 percent over 2007. But the rate of growth dropped by 6.7 percent. "China's logistics industry did not grow in parallel with e-business, because it still operates in a traditional way," Nie Linhai said. "We still do not have a modern logistics industry."

A modernized logistics industry is one of the goals of China's plan to revitalize its top ten industries. A recent State Council memo set out more specific targets for the industry.

For more information, please consult the Chinese coverage at: http://www.caijing.com.cn/2009-05-03/110158964.html.

(China.org.cn by Maverick Chen, May 4, 2009)