Domestic parcel volumes handled by the Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK), the country’s designated public postal operator, jumped 549.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, driven by a new partnership with a consolidation company for last-mile e-commerce delivery, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
PCK’s domestic parcel volumes rose to 667,978 in the quarter to June 2026, up from just 102,890 in the previous quarter. The CA attributed the increase partly to growth in e-commerce service items following the tie-up with the consolidation partner, and partly to the lifting of an embargo on Express Mail Service items that had constrained volumes in the previous quarter.
Despite the sharp quarterly surge, domestic parcel volumes for the full financial year were still down 33.2 per cent year-on-year, at 993,090 compared with 1.49 million the previous year, reflecting how depressed the prior quarters’ figures had been before the fourth-quarter rebound.
Domestic letter volumes handled by PCK rose a more modest 1.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 146,935 but remained down 70.2 per cent for the financial year, continuing a long-term structural decline in traditional postal correspondence as digital communication increasingly displaces physical mail. International outgoing and incoming letter volumes recorded mixed trends over the year, with outgoing letters up 45.7 per cent but incoming letters down 90.5 per cent.
Kenya’s private courier sector, which competes directly with PCK for parcel and letter delivery, posted stronger annual financial growth. Total courier revenues rose 6.7 per cent to KSh6.70 billion in 2025, up from KSh6.28 billion in 2024, according to audited financial accounts reviewed by the CA. Revenue from national courier operators grew sharply, up 67.5 per cent to KSh2.01 billion, while revenue from international courier operators declined 7.7 per cent to KSh4.69 billion, suggesting a shift in the sector’s revenue mix toward domestic logistics.
Domestic letter volumes handled by private couriers rose 43.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 912,480, while domestic parcel volumes, which include e-commerce-driven deliveries, grew 9.3 per cent for the full financial year to 14.4 million, even as they dipped 8.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Employment in the postal and courier sub-sector rose to 6,885 workers by June 2026, up from 6,736 a year earlier, continuing a steady five-year climb from 5,919 workers in June 2022.
The figures point to accelerating e-commerce-driven demand across Kenya’s parcel delivery infrastructure, with both the state postal operator and private courier firms scaling operations to meet growing last-mile delivery volumes as online retail continues to expand across the country.
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