Express delivery growth remains strong

China's express delivery industry continued to expand rapidly in the first five months, with both parcel volume and revenue showing robust year-on-year growth, official data showed on Monday.

From January to May, express delivery companies handled a total of 78.77 billion parcels, up 20.1 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures released by the State Post Bureau of China.

From January to May, the cumulative revenue of the express delivery industry reached 592.46 billion yuan ($82.47 billion), marking a 10.3 percent increase year-on-year.

Breakdown of the data shows that deliveries within the same city rose 5.8 percent to 6.42 billion parcels. Nonlocal deliveries — those between different cities or regions — surged 21.5 percent to 70.69 billion parcels. Meanwhile, international services, including those to and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, jumped 22.4 percent to 1.66 billion parcels.