The global economy is slowly recovering from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the cost-of-living crisis. Part of the economic slowdown is the result of the tighter monetary policies necessary to bring inflation down. Online retail sales growth is coming down from pandemic-driven highs. Postal operators worldwide saw revenue increase by 0.1% on average in 2022, down from an increase of 3.7% a year earlier.
EBIT margin was -1.1% on average in 2022, down from 0.7% in 2021. On aggregate, total postal industry revenue reached €492.8bn in 2022, up €17.2bn (+3.6%) on 2021 results. In 2022, logistics & freight contributed more than €9bn growth to 2022 industry revenue and parcels & express is no longer the primary driver for industry expansion.
The mail business encountered various challenges in 2022. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic were still evident in lower mail volumes as it altered consumer habits. Revenues and EBIT margins were negative, on average, for mail units in 2022. For parcels, volume declined in 2022, after growing in 2021. Despite volumes deteriorating from last year for most posts, parcels & express revenue rose, with the help of price adjustments.
Now in its fifteenth edition, this year’s IPC Global Postal Industry Report continues to take the pulse of the global postal industry. We analyse 53 posts from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, as well as non-postal carriers FedEx and UPS. And we continue our broad analytical coverage, from detailed performance comparisons across posts to tracking key market and industry trends.