China's parcel delivery and postal industry maintained a good development trend in the first quarter, reflecting the growth in consumer confidence of Chinese residents and the economic recovery, an official from the State Post Bureau of China said on Wednesday.

From January to March, China handled nearly 27 billion parcels, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent. The sector's business income during the period was 259 billion yuan ($37 billion), a year-on-year increase of 8.2 percent, Zeng Junshan, spokesman for the bureau and also the director of the bureau's policy and regulation department, said at a news conference in Beijing.

In the first quarter, the growth rate of the postal industry accelerated each month, and some indicators returned to double-digit growth rates. The sector has shown a steady recovery trend, showcasing the resumption of China's economy. It has laid a foundation for the industry's development over the year and provided strong support for promoting the improvement of the national economy, he said.

Affected by factors such as Spring Festival, which some couriers and parcel delivery centers took off, average daily parcel deliveries declined in January, but the volume began to rise from February to March, he said.

Average daily parcel deliveries were 233 million, 328 million and 338 million in January, February and March, respectively.

"Especially in March, more than 10 billion parcels were handled, showing that the market demand has picked up," Zeng said.

He noted that the number of parcels handled in March was 2 billion more than in March last year, and the number in February was 2 billion more than in February last year.

The vitality of the market continued to increase, and the willingness of enterprises to invest remains high, Zeng noted.

The postal industry continues to increase investment in technology research and development, infrastructure construction, equipment and facilities, and transportation capacity. Construction has started on a number of large-scale processing centers and China Post Group has signed an order to buy nine aircraft from Xiamen Airlines.

It took 96 days for the industry to handle 30 billion parcels this year, 67 days to handle 20 billion, and 39 days to handle 10 billion, showcasing the market's strong resilience and vitality.

As of April 6, 30 billion parcels had been handled in China this year. It took over three months more to handle the same amount in 2019.

China's parcel delivery industry has seen rapid development over the past decade. The parcel volume has increased from 5.6 billion items in 2012 to 110 billion items last year.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn