On January 8, the first day of China's re-opening, data from Yiwu Airport showed that the number of flights had returned to the same level as before the epidemic. In the "world capital of small commodities" Yiwu, Zhejiang, merchants have recently received messages from foreign buyers, hoping to visit Yiwu, and Yiwu merchants have also lined up 2023 abroad schedule, ready to take Yiwu small commodities to more markets around the world. In the past three years, Yiwu's 75,000 merchants have overcome many difficulties to send their goods around the world, providing Chinese "certainty" to the global economy, which is suffering from the impact of the epidemic and geopolitical influences. The Global Times recently interviewed a number of Yiwu merchants to hear how they are supplying the world during the epidemic, and to find out what their plans are for 2023.
From 300 billion to 400 billion
"When Yiwu International Trade City was fully liberalised on 13 December 2022, international friends who hadn't been seen for three years came back immediately. They bring popularity and hope to Yiwu." Zhang Jiying, chairman of Xingbao Umbrella Industry, who has been working in Yiwu for more than 20 years, could not hide his excitement and delight in his tone when he was interviewed by the Global Times on January 8, "Everything has passed, the three-year epidemic seems to have never happened, and everything in the future is brand new again."
These days, Zhang Jiying continues to receive messages from her clients around the world: they all want to fly back to Yiwu, where they have been away for three years, as soon as China has switched to "Category B" control for the new coronavirus infection.
On 13 December 2022, the Yiwu International Trade City was declared fully open. To welcome the arrival of foreign businessmen and promote the market to revive as soon as possible, Yiwu launched policies for foreign businessmen such as free accommodation, discounted storage and increased financing lines for business spaces. The latest data from the Yiwu Immigration Bureau shows that Yiwu has more than 10,000 resident foreign investors, recovering to about 70% before the epidemic.
The three-year epidemic has left an unprecedented mark on all merchants in Yiwu International Trade City. Many merchants told the Global Times that the three years were the most memorable time they had in Yiwu. Ms. He, the head of the company, told the Global Times that in the first year of the outbreak, the company's business was directly cut, and in the second year it began to recover slowly, and by the end of 2022 the company had basically recovered and its business income was back to the pre-epidemic level.
There were also a large number of traders whose business was not only unaffected during the epidemic, but was on the rise. Redlon Wire, a company that specialises in wire mesh and nails, doubled its business in three years. Komet Electrical Appliances saw its sales increase significantly during the three-year epidemic due to the "epidemic economy".
Data provided to the Global Times by Yiwu Customs shows that in the first 11 months of 2022, the value of Yiwu's imports and exports reached 442.22 billion yuan, an increase of 24.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2021. This figure compares with 390.31 billion yuan and 312.95 billion yuan for Yiwu in 2021 and 2020 respectively. This means that during the three-year epidemic, the total value of Yiwu's imports and exports jumped from 300 billion yuan to 400 billion yuan, crossing a big step.
Adjustment, innovation
As the "world capital of small commodities", Yiwu has trade with 232 countries and regions in the world, the market externality of more than 65%. Yiwu has 75,000 merchants, associated with 2.1 million small, medium and micro enterprises. Data show that during the epidemic, Yiwu sent a steady flow of more than 2.1 million commodities from the world's largest distribution centre for small commodities to 232 countries and regions around the world.
Zhang Jiying told the Global Times that she had barely met her customers in Europe and the United States offline in the past three years. For this reason, Zhang Jiying adjusted the company's business model during the epidemic and moved its operations online. For example, I set up a group of customers in Spain, and as soon as new products for Spain came out, I sent them to the group and introduced them to them, and when they thought the results were good, they would place orders online.
The doubling of business growth during the epidemic surprised the general manager of Redlon, Cheng Fangyuan, who even considered the three years of the epidemic to be the fastest period in the company's history. When the Global Times interviewed him, he was still busy shipping out products such as wire mesh and steel nails, which are widely used in various infrastructure projects. Cheng Fang Yuan said that in the past three years, the company has actually been facing the risk of large fluctuations in raw material prices and rising labour costs, "but we have absorbed all these internally and have not passed them on to our customers, which is perhaps an important reason why business has been getting bigger and bigger in recent years". Redlon's products have continued to expand in South America and Africa, and are now found in Cameroon, Benin, Burkina Faso, Suriname and even on the small islands of Sao Tome and Principe.
Yiwu RongYu Import & Export Company is connected to many merchants in Yiwu on one side and to important retailers in Europe and America such as Walmart and Amazon on the other. Every year, RongYu purchases a large number of products in Yiwu and sends them across the ocean to the world.
"Less business is worrying; but with orders that cannot be organised and sent out in time, customers may move to Southeast Asia and never return, which is also worrying." Wang Yi, general manager of Yiwu RongYu Import and Export Company, told reporters that the company's business is being tested by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, historically high inflation in Western countries and the impact of the epidemic on production and logistics. Ningbo Kaiyue Group, to which RongYu belongs, is a large foreign trade enterprise in Zhejiang province, and from the beginning of 2022, Kaiyue Group began sending a large number of business people to countries around the world, spending no less than a million RMB. But Wang Yi believes that all this is worth it, the epidemic will eventually pass and these efforts will build up momentum for the company to explore new markets.
"Your products are used on government buildings again ......"
Right now, Yiwu is going global.In November 2022, 41 people from 21 Yiwu enterprises, boarded a flight from Hangzhou to Singapore to participate in the Asia Pacific Beauty Show in Singapore as a group. At the time of the China-Arab Summit, the China Commodity City Group, to which Yiwu International Trade City belongs, formed a delegation to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to carry out an eight-day trip to "grab orders and expand the market".
In addition, Yiwu is also ready to meet the return of foreign businessmen. Yiwu recently released "Yiwu City to optimize the international business environment of foreign-related services ten initiatives", covering work and residence facilitation, foreign production and operation, foreign-related legal services, foreign-related medical consultation and other ten aspects, the beginning of the new year in 2023.
"Customers in Tanzania often send us photos and tell me that Redlon's products are again used on some government buildings." Cheng Fangyuan told reporters that once they see these, they especially want to go to Africa to see the relevant projects and feel the contribution Yiwu has made to the economic development of countries around the world. In addition, he also wanted to communicate with customers face-to-face to hear feedback and further improve and upgrade the products. In his planned trip, he would like to visit Cameroon, Ethiopia, Benin and other countries.
At the time of the interview with the Global Times, Wang Yi was inviting global customers to come to Yiwu as early as possible in 2023, "we must act now, if we are one step slower, they are likely to turn to Vietnam or India".
Huo Jianguo, vice president of the China World Trade Organization Research Association, said in an interview with the Global Times that, based on China's complete and complete industrial chain and efficient production, Yiwu, as the "world supermarket" and "the world's largest small commodity market", after three years of the epidemic A new period of development will be ushered in. He told reporters that the risk of a global recession continues to grow in 2023 and that products from Yiwu, China, will continue to supply the world, helping the world economy to recover as soon as possible.
