Yiwu to Beijing, Shanghai Express Surcharge Increase by 1 Yuan Per Shipment, New Round of Price Hikes Launches to Counter Price Wars

Since the courier industry began “countering involution” in 2025, a new wave of price increases has already started in 2026. Reports indicate that recently, courier franchises in Yiwu have announced increases in delivery fees. Due to rising delivery costs, some cities are charging additional special fees. Starting March 13, all parcels sent to Beijing and Shanghai will be charged an extra 1 yuan per shipment. Some courier franchisees in Zhejiang confirmed this information to N Video reporters.

(image source: internet)

Yiwu, Zhejiang, has long ranked among the top in national courier volume and revenue. According to the State Post Bureau, in 2025, Jinhua (Yiwu) processed 21.553 billion parcels and generated 44.74 billion yuan in courier revenue, ranking second and fourth nationwide. As a major “grain-producing” area for courier services, Yiwu accounts for about one-tenth of the country’s total processing volume, benefiting from extreme scale effects. It has long been the “bottom” of national courier prices, with any price changes quickly spreading nationwide. Price hikes in Yiwu often signal a shift in industry trends.

N News previously reported that the 2025 courier price increase first started in Yiwu, with the base price rising from 1.1 yuan to 1.2 yuan RMB. Subsequently, Guangdong, which also ranks among the top in courier volume and revenue, followed suit with price increases. Guangdong and Zhejiang together account for nearly half of the country’s courier capacity, further driving nationwide price adjustments. The increase at that time ranged from 0.4 to 0.5 yuan per parcel, but this time, the price hike is even larger.

Additionally, N Video reporters have noted that recent reports indicate Sichuan has also begun a new round of price increases. Major franchise courier companies like Zhongtong and Yuantong have issued notices stating that, starting March 11, within Sichuan, parcel prices will be adjusted upward based on company costs, and some delivery discounts will be canceled. However, the circulated notices do not specify the exact increase amounts.

(image source: internet)

The courier industry has long been trapped in a “race to the bottom” driven by “involution” competition—where low prices are used to gain volume. Coupled with the e-commerce platforms’ long-standing low-price strategies permeating the entire industry chain, this has led to issues in logistics. Low prices are at the core of the problem. Currently, major courier companies, having gone public, are tied to market share and market value. They have generally fought for larger market share by lowering prices, which has long squeezed profit margins at grassroots outlets, resulting in low incomes for couriers and poor service quality, creating a vicious cycle.

Data from 2025 shows that, amid calls from authorities to “counter involution” and raise prices, the per-parcel price has begun to stabilize. Business volumes have also slowed accordingly, while industry segmentation and competition reshuffling have accelerated. In the first three quarters of 2025, some companies experienced declines in market share and net profit, with profitability facing short-term pressure. The trend of shifting from price wars to competition based on efficiency and service quality has become more evident.

The National Post Bureau expects that in 2026, the total national courier volume will reach 214 billion parcels, an increase of about 8%. The 2026 National Postal Work Conference outlined eight key focus areas, one of which is: comprehensive regulation of “involution” competition, strengthening source governance, promoting courier companies to improve compliance levels, optimizing algorithms, and balancing the interests of headquarters, franchisees, and couriers to protect practitioners’ legal rights. Implementing “penetrating” supervision to address unreasonable management practices such as differential delivery fees and “complaint-to-penalty” measures.

Reporting by: N Video Reporter Fu Xiaoling