China’s express delivery volume has topped the world for three consecutive years, contributing 40% to the global growth of the industry, Ma Junsheng, director general of the country’s State Post Bureau, said on World Post Day on Oct. 9.

The business volume and revenue of China’s mail service have increased by a factor of 3.6 and 2.7, respectively, since the end of 2012, Ma noted.

The number of China’s online shoppers now accounts for nearly 40% of the country’s population, according to statistics released by China’s E-Commerce Research Center.

Thanks to the rapid development of e-commerce, China has maintained a 50% growth rate of the express delivery industry for five years in a row, handling 100 million parcels each day.

The surging logistics industry is also pushing express companies to achieve faster delivery.

The director general of the bureau’s market supervision department pointed out that 84.62% of all parcels shipped less than 1,000 kilometers could be delivered within 48 hours.

Statistics by the bureau show that China handled 17.32 billion express parcels in the first half of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%. As a result, industry revenue also grew by 27.2% to 21.82 billion RMB ($3.31 billion).

According to Ma, six express companies in China have gone public so far, and the business of China Post Group ranks in the top three among similar companies in the world.