China's couriers deliver rapid growth

China's express delivery market has grown fivefold in the past five years, according to the State Post Bureau.

The number of units delivered in April surged by 64.1 percent compared to last year, with revenue hitting 10.9 billion yuan ($1.77 billion), up 41 percent.

The first quarter saw 1.71 billion units of post delivered, up 64.3 percent year-on-year.

About 5.7 billion units were delivered through couriers in 2012, with a market value of 106 billion yuan.

Private companies claimed three-fourths of the market share and 61.9 percent in terms of sales. Around 800,000 couriers were employed.