A market war is underway among express delivery firms in China as
foreign and domestic firms battle for a share of the lucrative
market.
Liu Xuede, deputy chairman of Sinotrans Air Transportation
Development Company said Saturday that the express delivery market
had grown rapidly as couriers sought to carve out niche areas for
their services.
The world's four major express delivery companies -- FedEx, UPS,
DHL and TNT -- had all entered the Chinese market as partners with
Chinese companies, and accounted for 80 percent of the
international express delivery business in China.
FedEx regional vice-president of China and the Mid-Pacific region
Eddy Chan said more and more foreign companies were attracted to
China by fluctuating international currencies and new commercial
opportunities since China's entry into the World Trade
Organization.
Delivery services extended to more small goods in daily life like
flowers, cards and tickets, and domestic private companies had
quickly carved out a share of the market.
Confronted with competition from strong foreign couriers and the
mushrooming private sector, China's only domestic competitor to the
overseas players, Express Mail Service (EMS), a commercial arm of
China Post, is improving services and technologies to retrieve its
market share.
Since 1980, EMS has established 1,985 local branches under the
State Post Bureau.
Express delivery companies exceed 1,500, of which about 450 are
joint ventures.
Statistics show that among the nearly 34 million international
express delivery articles in 2001, 34 percent were made by EMS,
with the rest completed by couriers outside the postal sector.
China's express delivery market had great potential, especially in
the logistics industry, said Liu, adding that with the injection of
more high technologies and service concepts, the express delivery
business would see faster development in coming years.
(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2002)