A delivery distribution center in Nanchang. The increasing popularity of e-commerce business has pushed the express delivery industry to breaking point, analysts say. Provided to China Daily

China's express delivery industry has seen rapid growth, and analysts point out that the overall business volume is likely to surpass the United States this year to become the biggest in the world.

China's courier service providers delivered 3.8 billion items and brought revenue to 63 billion yuan in the first half of 2013, up 34.5 percent from the same period last year, according to statistics from the State Post Bureau of China.

The State Post Bureau said that total income for Chinese postal enterprises and express delivery companies was 122.5 billion yuan in the first half of 2013. The revenue of express delivery accounted for 51.7 percent, a growth of 3.7 percentage points year-on-year.

Huang Gang, an industry insider, said that fast growing E-commerce companies are helping push the development of express delivery services. Despite the increase in business volume, the industry is still deficient in terms of service quality, standardization, management and innovation, he said.

According to data from the State Post Bureau, business volume of international express service accounted for 3 percent of express delivery, while the revenue took up 20.4 percent of the total.

The high profit of international express business motivates Chinese express delivery companies to pursue international business.

At the beginning of this month, nine companies applied for the international express service license. S.F. Express, based in Shenzhen, has expanded its service network globally. The company set up offices in the US in 2012, and 13 major states are within its delivery area.

To tap the international market, domestic express companies have to increase customer service and efficiency to compete with international express giants like FedEx.