Portugal reports 4.6% increase in total postal traffic during 1st quarter

Total postal service traffic increased by 4.6% during the first quarter compared to the previous quarter, with around 267.8 million items reported, while on a year-on-year basis, total traffic fell by 9.4%.

Traffic in the reserved area totalled 212.196 million objects - making up 79.2% of total traffic - up 6.6% over the previous quarter and down 10% year-on-year. Meanwhile, liberalized traffic totalled 55.605 million objects - down 2.2% over the previous quarter and down 7.1% year-on-year.

In the period being reported, 96.8% of distributed items had a destination within the national market, while the remaining 3.2% were dispatched to destinations in the international market.

Meanwhile, about 97.7% of postal traffic was comprised by correspondence (including direct mail and also editorial mail).

An average of 25.3 postal items were distributed per inhabitant, 2.4 fewer items per capita than in 1st quarter of 2011, and 1.1 items more than in 4th quarter 2011.

Grupo CTT retained a 97% share of total postal traffic.

Traffic operated in competition makes up 20.8% of all postal items, with Grupo CTT retaining a share of 85.7% in this segment.

Looking at this segment by destination, national postal traffic fell by 2.3% over the previous quarter to around 51.8 million items and outgoing international traffic declined by 0.4% to 3.8 million items. National traffic therefore represented 93.1% of total traffic operated in competition, while outgoing international traffic represented 6.9%.

In the liberalized area, Grupo CTT accounted for 86.5% of national traffic and 74.2% of outgoing international traffic.

Out of about 55.6 million postal items of the liberalized area, 12.7% of all items were included in the express mail category. Express mail volume fell by 3.6% over the quarter and 3.8% year-on-year, while non-express mail traffic (remaining traffic) saw a decline, both on the quarter and year-on-year, of 2% and 7.5% respectively.

The companies of Grupo CTT retained a share of 93.7% in the non-express mail category and a share of 30.3% of traffic in the express mail category.

In terms of revenues, the full set of postal services generated a total of about 187.5 million euros, of which 65.7% refers to revenues from services operated in competition and the remaining 34.3% to the reserved area.

Average revenue was reported at 0.70 euros per item in the first quarter, an increase of 4.7% compared to the same quarter of 2011. In the reserved area, average revenue per item was reported at 0.30 euros, declining by 2.9% over the quarter; meanwhile, in the liberalized area, average revenue per item was reported at 8.74 euros for express mail and 1.27 euros for non-express mail.

Consult the statistical report:

Postal Services - 1st quarter 2012 http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1130234