BEIJING — China's courier sector kept steady expansion in July, official data showed.

The country's courier firms were expected to deliver 5.25 billion parcels last month, up 28.7 percent year-on-year, according to the State Post Bureau.

Business revenue rose 25.6 percent year-on-year to reach 60.5 billion yuan (about $8.68 billion) in July, according to an estimate.

Cross-border courier services developed quickly thanks to the newly-added international freight routes, international transit centers and warehouses.

A total of 27.6 billion parcels were delivered during the first half of the year, raking in about 338.46 billion yuan in business revenue.

China plans to extend the courier network and improve computer systems, services and international connections by 2020, when the target annual revenue of the courier sector will hit 800 billion yuan.