UPS Aims To Increase China Presence

United Parcel Service (NYSE:

), one of the world's largest package shipping firms, is looking to set up a domestic service in China, pending approval from the State Post Bureau. The company may submit an application to the Chinese regulator as soon as this week, the Financial Times reported. If the regulator approves the company's plans, UPS (NYSE:

) will introduce a next-day delivery service and second and third-day delivery products in China. UPS said the Chinese market could be as large as 5 million packages on a daily basis. In 2009 UPS delivered about 1.2 million packages a day in its international-domestic segment equal to $2.1 billion in revenue, according to the FT. UPS said last week it expects a high double-digit growth rate for its intra-Asian business over the next decade. The Chinese shipping market may be worth up to $9 billion a year by some estimates. UPS and rival FedEx (NYSE:

) are also moving to expand their logistics businesses in Asian markets, including China and Singapore.