China is estimated to have handled 50 billion parcels from January to June, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%, showing the strong resilience of the nation’s parcel delivery sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic, said the State Post Bureau of China. The sector’s revenue in the first six months is estimated to have reached nearly CNY500 billion, according to the Bureau, which is the industry’s regulator.
“In the first half of the year, the industry overcame the impact of the pandemic and other factors, and the scale of parcel delivery has rebounded rapidly after a brief decline, achieving positive growth and showing good development resilience,” Wang Yuehan, Associate Researcher with the Bureau’s Development and Research Center, said. “The average daily business volume has recovered to more than 300 million items, exceeding the level of the same period last year,” Wang added. Shopping festivals, when online shopping giants offer bargains, and e-commerce promotions, have boosted the industry’s recovery. The highest daily business volume exceeded 400 million items, Wang said.
The industry also saw a boom in sales of agricultural produce. With the sector’s campaign to expand parcel delivery services in rural areas, more agricultural products can now be delivered to urban areas. As a result, the number of parcels containing agricultural goods has been growing steadily. Wang also said the nation’s central region was a significant driver of the industry’s development in the first half of the year, with growth in most central areas exceeding the national average. Wang also said that although the sector’s cross-border business, affected by the pandemic and rising transportation costs, saw a decline in the first half of the year, the industry’s ability to build global networks, construct international hubs and improve local delivery capabilities in overseas markets improved. In addition, the number of countries and regions reached by Chinese companies’ international delivery services has increased, the China Daily reports.
