The Postal Corporation of Kenya, the country’s designated public postal operator, saw domestic letter volumes crash 70.2% over the year, from 1.94 million to just 577,694.
International incoming letters fell even harder, down 90.5% to 92,680, while international outgoing letters bucked the trend and actually grew 45.7% to 68,696, one of the few bright spots in the corporation’s traditional letter business.
Parcels tell a more interesting story. Domestic parcel volumes at the Postal Corporation spiked 549.2% in a single quarter, from 102,890 to 667,978.
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The report credits this to the lifting of a previous embargo on Express Mail Service items and a new partnership between the Postal Corporation and a last-mile delivery consolidation company tied to e-commerce growth.
| Letter Category | Previous Year | Current Year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Letters | 1.94 million | 577,694 | ↓ 70.2% |
| International Incoming Letters | — | 92,680 | ↓ 90.5% |
| International Outgoing Letters | — | 68,696 | ↑ 45.7% |
Even so, parcels were still down 33.2% for the full year, from 1.49 million to 993,090, showing the quarterly spike was a partial recovery rather than a full reversal of the corporation’s long decline.
International parcel volumes for the Postal Corporation fell even further, with incoming international parcels down 85.4% over the year to just 138,651.
Private courier companies are faring better. Revenue in the courier market rose 6.7% for 2025, from KES 6.28 billion to KES 6.70 billion.
READ: E-Commerce Fuels 9% Rise in Kenya’s Local Courier Deliveries
The split shifted notably: revenue from national courier operators jumped 67.5% to KES 2.01 billion, while international courier revenue actually fell 7.7% to KES 4.69 billion.
That means domestic courier business is growing much faster than the cross-border business that once dominated the industry.
Volume figures back this up. Domestic letters handled by private couriers rose 43.3% in the quarter to 912,480, suggesting private operators are absorbing demand that used to go through the public post office.
| Category | Comparison Period | Volume | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic Letters | Quarterly | 912,480 | ↑ 43.3% |
| Domestic Parcels | Quarterly | 3.37 million | Slightly down vs. previous quarter |
| Domestic Parcels | Annual | 14.4 million | ↑ 9.3% |
| International Incoming Parcels | Quarterly | 244,545 | ↑ 28.6% |
| International Incoming Parcels | Annual | — | ↓ 38% |
Domestic parcels handled by private couriers reached 3.37 million in the quarter, down slightly from the previous quarter but still up 9.3% for the full year to 14.4 million, by far the largest volume category in the entire postal and courier sector.
International incoming parcels handled by private couriers also grew 28.6% in the quarter to 244,545, even though they were still down 38% for the full year compared to the previous financial year, when the sector cleared out a much larger backlog.
