Red Star News:
It is stated in the 13th Five-Year Plan for postal service development that China will have developed a modern postal service industry that conforms to a moderately prosperous society by 2020. What progress has been made so far? What role has it played in meeting the Chinese people's demand for postal services on their way to a better life? Thank you.
Ma Junsheng:
Thank you for asking. My answer is that we have achieved positive progress. While making the 13th Five-Year Plan for postal service development, we set out the goal of developing a modern postal service industry that conforms to a moderately prosperous society according to China's national conditions and developmental trends in the world's postal industry. Focusing on this goal, we outlined 18 indicators across five aspects, namely measuring scale of development, service ability, service level, innovation capacity, and competitive strength. So far, all of these goals have been reached, with the exception of the international business ratio, which fell short of our expectation due to the impact of the pandemic this year.
The implementation of the plan has played a great role in meeting the Chinese people's demands for postal services. The past five years have seen the strongest sense of gain among the Chinese people; the fastest growth in industry strength; the most solid links among primary, secondary, and tertiary industries; and the biggest international influence exerted. The fundamental strategic role of the industry has also been significantly enhanced. The postal service industry has given more prominent support to the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries with better services, improved timeliness, wider access, and more comprehensive coverage of businesses. In particular, our efficient and cost-effective postal and express services have helped with the prosperous development of e-commerce. Online retail sales, thanks to the support of the postal service, exceeded 8 trillion yuan last year. The figure is expected to exceed 10 trillion yuan this year. By the end of September, the proportion of total retail sales in consumer goods in China had reached 24.3%, demonstrating the significant role of the postal service. Moreover, our services for modern agriculture and advanced manufacturing are moving toward specialization and extending to high-end industries. Meanwhile, two-way circulation channels have been further opened up in the countryside. Last year, we helped to send industrial products to the countryside and agricultural products to cities, with their total output value surpassing 870 billion yuan. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport, the level of coordination and integration between postal and transport services has been significantly improved.
Over the past five years, our infrastructure network has been expanded in an all-round way. We have mainly promoted the construction of express logistics parks and air express freight hubs. A total of 313 new hubs equipped with automatic sorting equipment have been built nationwide, raising the overall level of automation. We have also made great efforts to bring express delivery services to towns and villages. Now, express delivery outlets in rural areas cover more than 30,000 towns. We have also stepped up efforts to develop urban and rural terminal service outlets, and their density has been greatly increased. At present, there are 320,000 postal express outlets in China, equating to one service outlet per every 4,500 people (as calculated for a population of 1.4 billion). Such a high density is second to none in the world.
Over the past five years, we have also made remarkable achievements in innovative development. We are accelerating the application of artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, and blockchain technology. Our intelligent customer and warehouse service as well as the Beidou navigation technology has been put into use, and we have made breakthroughs in the application of unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles, and unmanned warehouses, as well as in intelligent security inspection technology. Technological iteration and upgrading has indeed greatly improved our operational efficiency.
Over the past five years, we have greatly accelerated the pace toward an environmentally friendly postal service industry. We have made full efforts in promoting projects "9571" and "9792." In the past, postal express waybills were handwritten; now, there is no such need, as almost 99% of waybills are electronic. This move makes the postal service more environmentally friendly and efficient. In the past, it took us approximately 10 minutes to write a waybill for a single express parcel, but now it takes less than two minutes to process an express parcel. The industry now saves significant resources given that 80 billion express parcels are processed per year.
Over the past five years, the industry's security services have remained stable overall. During the epidemic prevention and control this year, delivery persons fulfilled their duty in the face of the epidemic, guaranteeing normal delivery of epidemic prevention and control supplies and basic daily necessities. In addition, the per capita volume of express parcels in China stood at 45 in 2019 and is expected to reach nearly 60 this year, which is about twice the global average.
Over the past five years, delivery efficiency has also increased steadily. More than two-thirds of China's provincial-level regions have realized same-day delivery of Party newspapers and periodicals to areas at and above the county level. Government services for the convenience of the people such as "Internet Plus Postal Service" have been widely promoted throughout the country. More express delivery businesses have offered products to fulfill their promises. Precise delivery services such as scheduled delivery have also developed rapidly. Multiple delivery means, including home delivery, postbox delivery, and delivery to an outlet have been widely put into application. Customer satisfaction with universal post and express delivery services has also increased steadily.
