BEIJING, Oct. 14 -- China's logistics sector showed slower expansion in the first eight months due to shrinking demand amid economic slowdown, new data showed on Tuesday.

The total value of goods transported by logistics services increased 8.4 percent year on year to 138.1 trillion yuan (22.5 trillion U.S. dollars), according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage point lower than the first seven months and 1.1 percentage points lower compared to the same period last year.

The average logistics cost for transporting goods worth 100 yuan stood at 4.59 yuan in the first eight months.

Combined logistics expenditure in the Jan.-Aug. period totaled 6.3 trillion yuan, up 8.6 percent from a year ago. The growth was 0.2 percentage point lower than the first seven months.

The profit index of the logistics sector stood at 49.2 percent in August, up 3 percentage points month on month, but still below the boom-bust line of 50 percent.