CHENGDU, Feb. 28 (NBD) -- China expects to slash logistics costs further by 40 billion to 50 billion yuan (5.8 billion to 7.3 billion US dollars) this year. 

Li Xiaopeng, head of China's Ministry of Transport (MOT), made the remarks at the news conference held by the State Council Information Office on Monday. 

According to incomplete statistics, the country cut down road and waterway logistics costs by 36.5 billion yuan (5.3 billion US dollars) last year. 

As logistics costs are still a major driver of rising commodity prices, lowering costs will remain the focus of the transport industry's structural reform on the supply side. 

Work will be done to speed up the construction of comprehensive transport hubs and promote the multimodal transport to dramatically increase logistics efficiency.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn