Yiwu, a county-level city in East China's Zhejiang province that is often dubbed the "world's supermarket", handled 9.29 billion express delivery parcels in 2021, up 29.5 percent over 2020, according to the latest data from the Yiwu municipal postal administration.

Yiwu-based express delivery service firms are expected to handle more than 10 billion parcels in 2022, making Yiwu the first-ever Chinese county-level region to do so.

The city's express delivery sector grossed 24.94 billion yuan ($3.93 billion) last year, up 24.5 percent year on year.

Among the 9.29 billion parcels dispatched from the city throughout the year, 370 million were transmitted within the city, 8.87 billion were sent elsewhere in the Chinese mainland, and 49 million were sent to foreign countries, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan.

In December 2021, Yiwu-based express delivery service firms delivered 890 million parcels, up 0.7 percent year on year, and earned 2.71 billion yuan in revenue, up 19.1 percent from the previous year.

A vendor sorts holiday goods at a store in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. [Photo by QIAN XUSHENG/FOR CHINA DAILY]