China's postal industry registered steady growth in the first quarter of 2026, with both revenue and delivery volume expanding, according to data released by the State Post Bureau on Wednesday.

From January to March, the postal sector generated a total business revenue of 449.27 billion yuan (about 65.5 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.9 percent year on year. Revenue from express delivery services reached 369.02 billion yuan, marking a 6.8 percent increase.

During the same period, the sector handled 51.9 billion parcels, representing a year-on-year growth of 4.5 percent. Of the total, express delivery amounted to 47.73 billion items, up 5.8 percent.

China's postal and express delivery sector is seen as a barometer of the country's consumption vitality and economic activity, driven by the continued expansion of e-commerce, ever improved logistics networks, and growing demand in both urban and rural areas.

"The operation of the entire industry is steadily progressing, with continuous deepening of smart empowerment and steady improvement in basic capabilities. This effectively serves the innovative development of commodity circulation and provides solid support for consumption quality improvement and expansion, and industrial transformation and upgrading," said Liu Jiang, director of the strategic planning research department of the State Post Bureau's Development Research Center.

China's express delivery network is the world's largest by volume and serves the largest population. It handled nearly 200 billion parcels in 2025, up 13.6 percent year on year, ranking first globally for the 12th consecutive year.