Despite being the gateway for many of the imported goods flowing to the rest of the United States, California gets remedial grades in logistics on an annual report card from Midwest researchers.

The state was given a B-minus in Logistics Industry Health in the 2017 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card for the United States.

That grade is at least technically worse than the state got in the 2016 report card. Researchers initially gave California a B but then downgraded it to a C-minus based on updated federal data.

Part of the reason for California’s score is that logistics is concentrated in regions such as the Inland Empire rather than spread throughout the state.

The logistics industry was measured for such factors as its share in a state’s total income and employment per capita.

States that got A’s in logistics include Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The report card issues grades in nine categories. California only got an A in one of them, Productivity and Innovation.

The report is prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, for Conexus Indiana, a private-sector institution.

Nationwide, the report concluded that manufacturing is in better shape than many people perceive. Ball State Center director Michael Hicks called 2015 a record manufacturing production year in inflation-adjusted dollars and said “2017 looks to be a new record year.”

The state’s C grade in Manufacturing Industry Health shows that “California’s dynamics have been a lot like the rest of the nation,” he said in an email.

“Bottom line, GDP growth in manufacturing is pretty good, demand for new workers is not.”