On August 3, the State Post Bureau issued Circular on Economic Performance of the Postal Industry in H1 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the Circular). The Circular points out that in 2021, the postal industry fully implements the major policy decisions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and the important instructions made by the leaders of the central government, acts on the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, grounds its efforts in the new development stage, applies the new development philosophy, serves the establishment of the new development pattern, and strives to promote high-quality industrial development. It continues to consolidate the achievements of the COVID-19 response and industrial reform and development, and ensures coordination in pursuing development and upholding security. Meanwhile, the postal express industry has continued to develop at a high level, showing a trend of achieving and strengthening stability with steady progress, thereby contributing to ensuring stability on six key fronts (employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment, and expectations) and maintaining security in six key areas (job security, basic living needs, operations of market entities, food and energy, stable industrial and supply chains, and the normal functioning of primary-level governments).

According to the Circular, the postal express industry maintained a high-level development in the first half of the year. The total business turnover and revenue of the postal industry reached 642.47 billion yuan (about 98.99 billion US dollars) and 614.39 billion yuan (about 94.67 billion US dollars) respectively, up by 34.4% and 22.2%, both rising by more than 10 percentage points year on year. The volume and revenue of the parcel, express and logistics business of China Post amounted to12.81 billion items and 19.31 billion yuan (about 2.98 billion US dollars) respectively, with a 0.5% year-on-year increase in business volume. The increment of express business market reached a new high, with a net increase of 15.51 billion items in the first half of the year, an average of 640 million daily deliveries for customers and 35 express items per person.

The Circular shows that the business structure of the industry continues to improve. The postal service functions are expanded, and 21,000 more administrative villages are newly covered by the collaboration project of postal and private express companies, the coverage of which has therefore reached 16.4% administrative villages nationwide. In terms of serving the rural vitalization, 9,318 more ULE stations are newly built, generating 6.57 billion yuan (about 1.01 billion US dollars) in the sales of local specialties and farm produce, up by 78.7% year-on-year, driving 970,000 rural households to register an increased income of 1.18 billion yuan (about 182.1 million US dollars ). The construction of comprehensive postal service platform has been accelerated. Cooperating with the government, postal service has entered the administration halls at provincial, prefectural and county levels or has been connected with the government system. The police-post and taxation-post cooperation has expanded to 11,000 and 18,000 postal outlets respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of cross-region express service has increased, and international express service has developed rapidly.

The Circular also shows that the regional structure of the industry continues to improve, featuring both a steady growth in the proportion of express business in central China and a continuous divergence in the growth rate of urban express. The market competition continues to intensify, with the concentration decreasing and the express rate remaining low. Key projects have been accelerated，with express service reaching villages rapidly and a great potential for express service connecting factories. Moreover, the service of postal and express enterprises has been continually improved.