BEIJING — China's courier sector continued to expand in February, a monthly industry index has shown.

The China express delivery development index stood at 229.4 last month, up 21.4 percent year-on-year, the State Post Bureau said.

The monthly volume of parcels delivered is estimated to have increased 48 percent year-on-year while express delivery revenue went up 31 percent, the bureau said.

In February 2021, the courier sector handled about 4.8 billion parcels, with revenue totaling 49 billion yuan (about $7.74 billion).

The bureau attributed the increase to the weeklong Spring Festival holiday and the Winter Olympics economy.

It forecast continued expansion of the sector in March, with the average daily volume of parcels delivered exceeding 300 million.