Rising logistics costs consumed a bigger share of U.S. corporate spending over the past year as companies rushed to take advantage of an improving U.S. economy, according to a new report. U.S. businesses spent a record $1.64 trillion on logistics in 2018, up 11.4% from the prior year and accounting for 8% of GDP, the report said. Industry experts view the logistics share of GDP as a measure of the efficiency of transportation and distribution networks, and last year’s figure was sharply up from a 7.5% share in 2017. Retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers pulled shipments forward in late 2018 in anticipation of rising levies on Chinese imports. Storage and other inventory costs jumped 14.8% in 2018 as inventories measured by value increased 4.6% compared with the prior year, the report said.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 18, 2019 12:56 UTC