BEIJING, March 26 -- China's express delivery sector is growing six times as fast as GDP, according to an industrial index released by the State Post Bureau (SPB) on Thursday.

In terms of industrial expansion, the sector recorded an average 50.3-percent annual growth during the 2010-2014 period, eclipsing annual economic growth, which came in at 7.4 percent for 2014.

Meanwhile, an index assessing delivery firms' development from four perspectives -- scale of industrial development, service quality, coverage, and development trends -- stood at 282.4 in 2014, up 70.8 on 2013.

SPB chief Ma Junsheng said the express delivery sector has maintained robust and healthy development, with services and coverage both improving.

The number of parcels received by express delivery in China last year reached 14 billion, the biggest volume around the world. The sector's market value hit 204 billion yuan (33 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 42 percent year on year.

Ma promised earlier that China will help domestic express delivery firms expand overseas this year to support booming cross-border online shopping.