BEIJING, Feb. 12 -- China's courier sector registered expansion in January, a monthly industry index showed.

China's express delivery development index for January came in at 265, up 1.5 percent year on year, according to the State Post Bureau.

The sub-index for the development scale grew 19.4 percent from a year earlier, and China's express delivery industry handled about 410 million parcels during the recent Spring Festival holiday, approximately doubling the figure during the same holiday period in 2019.

The sub-index for development capacity picked up 0.9 percent year on year, as China ramped up efforts to accelerate the construction of intelligent infrastructure and improve cross-border delivery capacity.

Compiled on the basis of data from major logistics firms' operating delivery services, the development index reflects the overall business activities and trends in the country's courier sector.