Latest data shows that Yiwu, a county-level city in the jurisdiction of Jinhua in East China's Zhejiang province, dispatched 4.27 billion express delivery parcels in the first half of this year, accounting for 8.8 percent of the national aggregate and 41.46 percent of the provincial aggregate.

Yiwu's express delivery volume in H1 surged 46.5 percent year-on-year. Its current daily express delivery volume is around 20 million parcels.

Yiwu is often dubbed "the world's supermarket" as it is home to the world's largest wholesale market of small commodities. The city is also a global hub for cross-border e-commerce activities.

Yiwu's annual express delivery volume grew from 1.057 billion parcels in 2016 to 7.175 billion parcels in 2020, bringing its nationwide ranking in this regard from seventh to second place.

"Over the first six months of this year, we maintained a strong momentum in development, delivering as many as 700,000 parcels. Benefitting from Yiwu's highly efficient logistics networks, these parcels can reach any place in the Yangtze River Delta region by the next day, and places outside the YRD in less than three days," said Yin Xingxing, a manager at Yiwu Xiangtong Supply Chain Management Company.

Yin told local media that more and more e-commerce retailers have been setting up their warehouses in Yiwu rather than Hangzhou or Shanghai where postage fees are much higher.

"Yiwu has been viewed as a bellwether in China's express delivery sector," said an official from the city's express delivery industrial association.

The official added that Yiwu-based express delivery service firms boast multiple advantages in digitization, operation costs, and R&D investment.