China's parcel delivery sees stronger growth than ever

As of Monday, China has handled more than 50 billion parcels this year, 32 days earlier than last year, showcasing the sector's strong resilience and vitality, the State Post Bureau of China said on Tuesday.

The sector's vitality has demonstrated that China's economy has continued to improve, the bureau said.

Notably, thanks to the network's improvement across the country, especially in rural areas, fresh agricultural produce can be easily delivered to customers' doorsteps. More than 100 million parcels are circulating in rural areas everyday, improving rural residents' income and enriching urban residents' choices.

Last year, a total of 143 model projects were selected by the bureau that showcase the parcel delivery sector's role in boosting agricultural business to facilitate rural revitalization.

Each project represents a local agricultural product from a municipal city that had been sold via the parcel delivery network, with over 10 million consignments last year. For instance, flowers and plants from Shuyang in Jiangsu province ranked at the top of the list, selling 413 million parcels.

The model projects were from 91 cities across 22 provincial-level regions, with 24 of them originating from Shandong province, ranking at the top of the list.

Products from the model projects include fruits, livestock products and vegetables.

Better service models were seen among the model projects. For instance, parcel delivery companies not only provide a delivery network but also engage in live-streaming sales to assist in selling agricultural produce.

Lin Hu, a spokesman for the bureau, said: "The model projects have showcased the achievements resulting from the collaborative development of postal service, rural e-commerce and the agriculture sectors."

This year, the sector has set the goal to boost the parcel delivery services in rural areas, establishing 100,000 new parcel delivery and logistics service stations in villages.

As a pilot initiative, Beijing aims to ensure all villages in the city have a place to offer parcel delivery service by the end of this year.

China has promoted parcel delivery service in rural areas in recent years. The country has established a total of 1,267 county-level public parcel delivery distribution centers, 289,000 rural parcel delivery and logistics service stations, and 190,000 village postal stations.