Cainiao Network, (Cainiao), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group Holding Limited, announced that it has established a strategic collaboration with Correios, the national postal service of Brazil, to promote bilateral trade between China, Brazil and Latin America.

The Chinese logistics company said the partnership seeks to "deepen collaboration" in areas such as logistics and technology in order to enhance cross-border express and last-mile logistics services for merchants and consumers.

The joint efforts will also contribute towards the two companies' shared goal of promoting bilateral trade between China and Latin America.

"As part of this strategic collaboration, Cainiao and Correios will deepen their cooperation in international air freight, local logistics infrastructure, and smart logistics technology," the announcement said.

It added that this will also help drive the optimization of import and export logistics and China-Brazil express services, create holistic full-chain solutions to serve more platforms, merchants, and consumers, and accelerate trade exchanges between China and Brazil.

"Globalization has always been one of our core business pillars. Today, Cainiao's global express service has served hundreds of thousands of cross-border merchants and we are accelerating the development of holistic logistics capabilities to better support our customers' needs," said Wan Lin, CEO of Cainiao.

"Going forward, we will be deepening our collaboration with Correios to enhance bilateral trade between China and Brazil," he added.

Fabiano Silva dos Santos, president of Correios, for his part, noted that the company "envision that this collaboration will be a huge step forward in the optimization of logistic operations for Correios and Cainiao."

"Amid the highly competitive logistics industry in Brazil, it is pertinent for us to prioritize innovation, customer-centricity and a forward-thinking mindset in order to maintain industry leadership," Silva said.

Brazil is the 15th largest market for e-commerce with a revenue of US$26.1 billion in 2021.

According to the 2021 eEbit Webshoppers report, e-commerce in Brazil grew by 31% in the first half of 2021. In 2020 alone, the number of online consumers increased by more than 40% due to the pandemic and changing consumer preferences.

This March, Cainiao's last-mile delivery business in Brazil grew by more than 70% compared to last year.

Currently, Cainiao has eight weekly cargo chartered flights from China to Brazil and has built automated distribution centres, overseas warehouses, and self-pickup lockers in countries such as Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.