China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) will promote the standardization of key logistics equipment and provide financial aid to companies whose costs rise because of the new standards, officials said. “In the next one to three years, we will introduce standards for some key equipment used in commercial logistics, such as pallets and bar codes,” said Wang Xuanqing, Deputy Director General of the Department of Circulation Industry Development at the Ministry of Commerce. In 2012, the logistics costs of companies in China reached CNY9.4 trillion, equivalent to about 18% of GDP, compared with the world average of 11.2%, according to Wang. The low threshold for entering the industry has drawn many small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for more than 90% of the business, leading to low efficiency. Weak use of information technology and various fees and taxes are also to blame. “The logistics sector is falling behind the economy’s development and the expansion of consumption. The problems of high costs and low efficiency are obvious,” said Hu Suojin, Deputy Director General of MOFCOM’s General Office. Minister Gao Hucheng said that logistics operations are fundamental to China’s economic growth.