China's postal industry continues to grow rapidly

China's postal industry, including parcel delivery, has been serving nearly 700 million customers per day, boosting consumption upgrades and increasing connections between industries, the industry regulator said on Thursday.

"The sector has maintained fast and steady growth over the past eight years," said Hou Yanbo, spokesman for the State Post Bureau of China.

Last year, the postal industry raked in 1.1 trillion yuan, more than three times that in 2010. That amount doesn't include direct revenue from Postal Saving Bank of China.

Parcel delivery businesses earned about 880 billion yuan in 2020 — 15 times more than in 2010.

Hou also noted that a number of Chinese enterprises have grown strong, adding that China Post is one of the top 500 companies in the world and that its rank is increasing.

The international network of China's parcel delivery companies has been expanding, reaching more than 220 countries and regions.

Since September 2019, all villages in China have had access to postal service, said Ma Xulin, director of the post bureau's general service department.

He noted that over the past 10 years, the bureau has focused on building postal service facilities in rural areas and less-developed regions to allow all residents to receive postal services in every corner of the country.

China's parcel delivery network has been improving over the past decade, said Lin Hu, deputy director of the bureau's market inspection department.

Since 2011, the number of China's parcel delivery stations has increased from 89,000 to 224,000, and the number of parcels delivered or received per user rose from 4.2 to 59 each year.

He also noted that technology — including artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing — has improved and contributed to the development of postal services in recent years, and that technological innovation has played a vital role in supporting the industry's high-quality development efforts.

Such efforts have helped boost the number of packages delivered and received. Last year, 83.3 billion parcels were handled, and that number is expected to grow to 95.5 billion by the end of this year.