China's courier sector sees rapid growth in 2018

BEIJING -- China's courier sector witnessed strong growth last year lifted by booming e-commerce, according to the State Post Bureau (SPB).

The sector raked in 603.84 billion yuan (about $89.1 billion) of revenue in 2018, up 21.8 percent year on year.

The volume of parcels delivered rose 26.6 percent to 50.71 billion, the SPB said.

With an average annual growth of 42 percent in the past decade, the country's courier sector has topped the world for five straight years in terms of business volume. The sector saw 495 billion yuan of revenue in 2017.

The country plans to extend the courier network and improve computer systems, services and international connections by 2020, when target annual revenue of the courier sector will be 800 billion yuan.