Yiwu mirrors vitality of China's foreign trade

The Yiwu International Trade Market, the world's leading small commodities market located in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province, is always bustling.

The market has trade relations with 233 countries and regions. With an area of more than 6.4 million square meters and 75,000 business stores, it offers more than 2.1 million types of commodities.

A buyer from Costa Rica chooses daily necessities in a store at the Yiwu International Trade Market in Yiwu, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Photo/Shi Kuanbing)

"I keep working every day with joy and meaning," said He Dan, a toy seller at the market, who is also head of Yiwu Jingxin Toys Co., Ltd.

Her store mainly sells interactive dolls, which are particularly popular with customers from countries and regions like South America and Russia.

"March and April are peak months for customers to place orders. Many customers recently came to inquire about prices and to see the products," she said.

The seller added that most of them are old customers who have kept in touch with her through WeChat, while some are new customers brought by Chinagoods, the official online platform of the Yiwu International Trade Market.

"I made a good start this year - much better than last year. The next two months will not be bad," she said confidently.

Fu Miaoling, another seller at the market, was busy at work at her store, which received orders worth 1.2 million yuan ($166,700) during this year's Spring Festival holiday.

"I've been doing business in Yiwu at a frenetic pace like this since 2008, like all the other bosses around me," Fu said.

A worker checks products at a workshop of an outdoor recreation product company in Hongze district, Huai'an city, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Yin Chao)

Yiwu is the epitome of the vitality of China's foreign trade. The country's foreign trade in goods in the first two months of 2024 stood at 6.61 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 8.7 percent, signaling a good start for foreign trade this year, according to customs data.

In the same period, the trade volume of private firms in the country reached 3.61 trillion yuan, an increase of 17.7 percent, or 54.6 percent of the total value of China’s foreign trade.

"Currently, global economic growth lacks energy. China's foreign trade has maintained growth for many consecutive years and has achieved a good start this year. This is underpinned by the effective implementation of the country's policy of high-standard opening up," said Wei Jigang, deputy director of the Center for International Knowledge on Development (CIKD).

Qi Xiaoyuan is a self-employed individual who sells food at an e-commerce incubation park that is just half a kilometer away from the Yiwu International Trade Market.

Having been in Yiwu for over 10 years, Qi is venturing into cross-border e-commerce livestreams. Her annual sales are worth tens of millions of yuan thanks to her efforts in e-commerce livestreams.

In April 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation advanced targeted assistance for different categories and types of self-employed individuals in 12 pilot provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Zhejiang, where Yiwu was listed as one of the first pilot areas.

Thanks to the measure, Qi has benefited from various exclusive policies, receiving professional services in aspects like intellectual property and legal assistance. The local government has also provided her with targeted advice and support to develop cross-border e-commerce, helping sell more products from Yiwu to overseas markets.

Jingxin Toys Co., Ltd. is also a beneficiary of the measure, receiving targeted support in multiple areas such as brand cultivation, financial assistance, logistics, and online traffic. Since 2023, the company has registered one new trademark, 16 copyrights and five design patents, and reduced losses by over 700,000 yuan by taking out insurance against foreign exchange risks. Its annual sales exceeded 10 million yuan, a year-over-year increase of 30 percent.

Photo shows a busy scene of the Chishui terminal of the Wuzhou Lingang Economic Zone in Wuzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/He Huawen)

"The targeted assistance for different categories and types of self-employed individuals has vigorously promoted the development of self-employed individuals at the Yiwu International Trade Market. Last year, the market's transaction volume hit 233.13 billion yuan, up 15.36 percent year on year," said Ye Bangrui, mayor of Yiwu city.

"We are going all out to build an ecosystem that 'makes it easier to do business'. For example, we launched a campaign last year, attracting over 1 million global buyers to Yiwu, enabling self-employed individuals to reach global markets 'at home'," Ye added.

Last October, the Yiwu International Trade Market upgraded the Chinagoods AI Smart Service Platform, with AI technology allowing local business owners to upload a short video that can be translated into 36 languages.

Business owners in Yiwu have been actively embracing digital technologies like AI. Chen Meijun, a toy seller at the Yiwu International Trade Market, is one of the merchants to experience the AI technology. She recently posted a video introducing her business in four languages on the platform, which went viral.

Chen said that the voice and lip movements in the translated video also matched her own.

In 2021, Chen was one of the first toy sellers in the Yiwu International Trade Market to launch an online product showroom. "Thanks to the online showroom, customers don't need to come to the market to see the latest products; they can directly purchase products of all categories online. My sales grew by 10 percent and are still increasing steadily," Chen said.