BEIJING, April 2 -- China's logistics sector reported stable performance in the first quarter (Q1) of this year as accelerated industrial production drove up transport demand, an industry report showed Tuesday.

The index tracking the country's logistics market stood at 51.5 percent in March, up significantly by 4.4 percentage points from a month earlier, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. Meanwhile, the warehousing index gained by 8.1 percentage points from February to 52.6 percent in March.

The logistics sector got off to a good start this year, said He Hui, chief economist of the federation.

With robust activities in both upstream and downstream of the country's supply chains, the logistics sector saw improving indexes on the total business volume, new orders and the equipment utilization rate, He said, noting that enterprises' expectations were generally optimistic.

In a breakdown, the total business volume index went up 4.4 percentage points in March to 51.5 percent, and the new orders index rose 1.2 percentage points to 53.4 percent. The index measuring business expectations came in at 55.3 percent, staying in the high-climate zone for two straight months.