Stefan Brunner, head of global automotive operations at CEVA, a logistics service provider, said that in China, the storage, loading and transportation of auto parts takes too much time and costs too much.

At present, there are about 2 million regional transportation companies and about 700000 logistics providers in China, he said. But he predicted that would change.

"With the increasing number of foreign companies entering China, it will promote industry consolidation," he said

As a result of low efficiency, China's inventory cost is actually higher than that of European and American countries. China's inventory turns around only two to three times a year, Brunner said. In contrast, the turnover times of the United States and European countries reached 10-20 times.

Finding qualified logistics professionals is also a major problem, Brunner said. By 2010, it is estimated that China will need 400000 logistics experts, while local universities only train about 10000 logistics graduates every year.

Brunner spoke at the Frankfurt hosted China conference at supplier business, a unit of global insight, a market analysis company.