>BEIJING, March 7 -- China`s logistics industry grew at a slightly slower rate last year, with demand and added value maintaining steady growth, new data showed on Friday.

The total value of goods carried by China`s logistics industry grew 9.5 percent year on year to reach 197.8 trillion yuan (32.32 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said in a statement.

The pace was slightly down by 0.3 percentage points compared with a year earlier.

The total added value of the logistics industry rose 8.5 percent to 3.9 trillion yuan, down 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier.