China's express delivery industry sees daily record as over 700 mln parcels collected in single day

China's express delivery industry has set a new single day record after more than 700 million parcels were collected across the country on Tuesday, according to the State Post Bureau.

Data from the bureau showed a staggering total of 729 million parcels were received on Tuesday, representing a 74 percent year-on-year increase and setting a new record for daily business volume.

It comes as China enters its peak season for parcel deliveries in the lead up to its biggest annual online shopping sprees, with the high demand likely to last all the way through until late January ahead of the Chinese New Year.

China's postal and express delivery industry received approximately 1.92 billion parcels from Monday to Wednesday, a year-on-year increase of 48.7 percent, according to the data, which also showed the country's courier industry delivered about 1.65 billion parcels, a 29.5 percent year-on-year increase.

These figures highlight how China's vast consumer market continues to act as a major driving force behind the logistics boom, while postal services are also stepping up their efforts and employing advanced technology in order to meet the increased demand.

"We require all express delivery companies to actively communicate and coordinate with e-commerce platforms, reasonably arrange warehousing plans and delivery schedules, allocate resources such as personnel, venues, and vehicles, actively apply digital intelligence tools including unmanned vehicles and drones to ensure the efficiency of transportation and guarantee that service quality does not decline," said Bian Zuodong, deputy director of the State Post Bureau's market regulation department.

The current delivery rush is picking up ahead of the annual "Double 11" online shopping spree, which lands on Nov. 11 each year and has evolved from a single-day sales promotion into a huge internet shopping frenzy lasting many weeks.

Last year, this major e-commerce event saw over 7.5 billion packages being sent across the country from Nov. 1 to 16, with companies in the sector adding extra couriers, extending working hours, and deploying more automated facilities to meet the demand.

China's express delivery industry sees daily record as over 700 mln parcels collected in single day

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar