BEIJING — China’s courier sector reported steady growth in April thanks to booming online retail sales, official data showed on May 9.

The index tracking delivery sector growth stood at 176.8 last month, up 16 percent year-on-year, data from the State Post Bureau (SPB) showed.

The sector’s scale expanded fast as the related sub-index jumped 26.1 percent year-on-year in April. An estimated 4.75 billion items were delivered last month, up 26.7 percent compared with April 2018.

China in late April launched an online shopping festival that encourages consumption of premium products. The first day of the campaign saw an estimated 172 million packages delivered, surging 47.7 percent year-on-year.

The SPB estimated online retail sales to top 2.4 trillion yuan ($355 billion) in the first four months of this year, up nearly 20 percent year-on-year.