China's parcel delivery sector has continued to grow over the last month, showcasing the industry's stable operation situation, boosting scale and improving service quality, a monthly industry index showed.

The monthly parcel delivery development index was 356.4 last month, a year-on-year increase of 47.7 percent, the index report from the State Post Bureau of China showed.

The index is a monthly report by the bureau that measures the state of parcel delivery services across the country. It provides an overall evaluation of the parcel delivery industry using indicators such as delivery speed, coverage, quality of service, cost and environmental protection.

The report also provides insight into trends within the parcel delivery industry and recommendations for further improvements.

In terms of the scale of the parcel delivery system, the sector has increased by 35.1 percent year-on-year, according to the index report.

In April, last year, the volume of the sector was low due to the pandemic. This April, the parcel delivery industry seized the opportunity to increase the capacity of cold-chain delivery for seasonal products such as agricultural produce and spring tea, which were fresh on the market. It has resulted in the increase of the market scale. The daily peak of the parcel delivery volume was 390 million last month.

From the perspective of infrastructure development of the industry, the sector has enhanced 25 percent year-on-year thanks to the building of more parcel delivery stations, transfer hubs, distribution centers and the opening of more cross-border cargo flights.

Last month, some international cargo routes were newly opened by parcel delivery companies, such as round trip routes between Changsha of Hunan province and Tel Aviv in Israel, as well as Ezhou of Hubei province and Deli in India.

To cater for the lychee season in Maoming, Guangdong province, parcel delivery companies have extended the collection to the fields and improved packaging to increase the product's quality.

The index also showed that the sector will continue to grow as the economy recovers, which will boost online shopping.

The industry is expected keep a stable development trend this month, according to the index report.

China's parcel delivery industry has undergone rapid development over the past decade with volumes increasing from 5.6 billion items in 2012 to 110 billion items last year.

The industry continues to expand this year. As of May 4, the parcel delivery sector has handled more than 40 billion parcels, demonstrating economic recovery and reflecting growth in consumer confidence, according to the bureau.

It took 24 more days for the sector to handle the same number of parcels last year, and in 2019, it took four more months.