(Yicai Global) May 10 -- Boosted by rocketing express deliveries, the business turnover of China's parcel sector climbed 26.4 percent annually to CNY1.2 trillion (USD176.2 billion) last year, propelled by the rapid rise of e-commerce past the CNY1 trillion mark for the first time.

The business generated revenue of CNY790.5 billion (USD116.2 billion) last year in a 19.4 percent leap over the year before.

Express delivery services brought 50.7 billion parcels last year, up an annual 26.6 percent, which yielded revenue of CNY604 billion in a 21.8 percent rise from 2017 to make up 76.4 percent of the total, a share also up 1.5 percentage points on the year. Other businesses, including carriage of letters and periodicals, were down by varying degrees.

Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing were China's top five provinces or cities by volume of express arrivals last year, with their combined tally being 65.4 percent of the country's total, 2.1 percentage points lower than in 2017. The country's central and western regions increased faster in express delivery volume, with steadily rising market share showing better balanced development among different areas.

Of express infrastructure, 275,000 in various types of delivery centers were distributed nationwide by the end of last year, with 100,000 in rural areas. Each office covered a service area of 35 square kilometers on average and served about 5,000 residents. The nationwide delivery route count hit 28,000 by year's end, 1,045 more than the year before.

Average consumption by each Chinese of express delivery services climbed to 36.4 in the period, 7.6 more than a year earlier, and each paid CNY432.7 (USD63.6) on them among the total of CNY566.5 spent overall.

Editor: Ben Armour