Employees sort packages at a courier center in Baoding, North China's Hebei Province on December 4, 2023. As of December 4, China's on-demand deliveries hit a new annual record of 120 billion packages for the first time, data from the State Post Bureau showed on December 5, 2023. Photo: VCG

China's State Post Bureau on Tuesday projected an impressive 19.5 percent year-on-year growth for the country's express delivery in 2023. Bolstering the rapid growth of the industry is the continuous improvement of postal infrastructure and the rapid development of delivery capabilities, the bureau said.

According to the bureau, China's postal industry is anticipated to have handled 162 billion items and generated 1.5 trillion yuan ($209.5 billion) in revenue, representing year-on-year growth of 16.5 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively. Within this, the express delivery sector alone is expected to have handled 132 billion items and generated 1.2 trillion yuan in revenue, up 19.5 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.

Since the beginning of 2023, the State Post Bureau had supported and guided the layout of postal and express delivery distribution network, warehousing facilities, and transportation system, closely integrating them with national integrated transport hub clusters and major cities. 

The bureau also pushed construction of international transport hub clusters centered on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle, and the central China's urban agglomeration plan.

Meanwhile, the State Post Bureau improved the efficiency of postal infrastructure, with major progress being made on the main projects of mail processing centers in major cities including Yiwu, Chengdu, Changsha, Nanchang, and Xining cities.

Among the postal and express delivery facilities built in 2023, two major projects had attracted most attention. In Central China's Hubei Province, first professional cargo hub airport in Asia, the Ezhou Huahu Airport developed SF Express, became fully operational. In East China's Zhejiang Province, YTO Express had begun construction of a logistic hub at the Jiaxing airport. The projects had greatly improved mail and express processing capabilities, and steadily advanced the process of smart logistics.

Looking ahead to 2024, the State Post Bureau will rely on the national three-dimensional transportation network to enhance postal and express hub capacities, accelerate the implementation of major postal projects and express infrastructure construction. 

The bureau stressed the importance of improving postal infrastructure network in central and western China and pushing for balanced development to contribute to the construction of a unified national market.

The State Post Bureau predicted that the postal industry will maintain an upward trend in 2024, with an estimate that the industry will handle 171.5 billion items and generate 1.6 trillion yuan in revenue, achieving a 6 percent year-on-year growth this year. Among them, express deliveries and revenue are expected to reach 142.5 billion items and 1.3 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of around 8 percent.