By Ouyang Jie, Ke Zhongjia, Liu Junguo, People’s Daily
On an ordinary afternoon at the Yiwu International Trade Market, the world’s largest wholesale hub for small commodities, business is anything but ordinary. The corridors bustle with buyers from across the globe, and vendors – some 75,000 of them – field inquiries from customers both online and off.
Dubbed “world’s supermarket,” this sprawling market in east China’s Zhejiang province sees more than 220,000 visitors a day. While global trade faces rising uncertainty, Yiwu remains a hive of activity and resilience. “There are always more solutions than problems,” a vendor remarked to People’s Daily reporters on a recent visit – a sentiment echoing through the halls of the market. It reflects the quiet confidence of a marketplace that, even as supply chains realign and geopolitics shift, continues to find new ways to keep business moving.
At 3 p.m., on the fifth floor of District 2 of the market, Wang Nan, general manager of a hardware store, had not yet paused for lunch. “These are already the fourth group of clients I’ve met today,” he said, motioning toward a pile of pending online orders. Since the beginning of the year, sales have increased by around 20 percent, he added.
His store offers more than 1,000 varieties of hand and power tools, exporting to over 100 countries through a network of long-term partnerships with manufacturers in industrial hubs such as Danyang in east China’s Jiangsu province, and distributors worldwide.
With a broad selection, polished packaging, and reliable quality, the products have gained popularity among consumers across the world. “Our trade with the U.S. makes up about 10 percent of our business,” Wang said. “Even when U.S. shipments face delays, it doesn’t rattle us. When you have good products, the customers keep coming.”
Yiwu’s strength lies in volume, variety, and velocity. The market offers more than 2.1 million stock keeping units (SKUs), forming the backbone of everyday global consumption. These unassuming, everyday goods – what merchants call “hardcore” products – have reinforced local merchants’ confidence to weather global shocks and keep commerce moving forward.
“In recent years, we’ve worked to expand into African markets, and we are now seeing growth of over 20 percent in those countries,” said Liu Jianhao, sales director of Zhejiang Rifeshow Cosmetics Co., Ltd.
The company has sharply scaled back its dependence on the U.S. market, slashing the share of exports bound for the U.S. from 60 percent in 2018 to just 5 percent today – a shift that has helped insulate it from the fallout of unpredictable U.S. tariffs.
Last October, the company rolled out a new line of perfumes targeting African and Middle Eastern markets. The initial plan called for 30 products, but by the time the line launched in February this year, demand had already surged beyond expectations. In response, the company quickly added 36 more fragrances, each tailored to regional preferences.
“In just over two months, we sold more than 5 million bottles,” Liu said. “From concept to shelf, we move fast and deliver quality. That’s the strength of China’s supply chain, and it’s what allows Yiwu merchants to thrive in an increasingly diversified global market.”
The Yiwu International Trade Market operates like a global expo, open year-round to foreign buyers around the world. According to Yiwu Customs, in the first quarter of this year, the city’s total trade with Belt and Road partner countries reached 111.85 billion yuan ($15.32 billion), up 11.7 percent year on year, accounting for 66.8 percent of the city’s total foreign trade.
During the same period, the market saw significant growth in trade with other regions: trade with ASEAN and the European Union recorded increases of 16.1 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively; while that with Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East grew by 3.9 percent, 14.1 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively.
For traders in Yiwu, markets in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other Belt and Road partner countries, represent not just opportunity, but stability. Tapping into this broad network of emerging demand has become a strategic buffer – with a growing “circle of friends” now central to weathering uncertainty and building long-term resilience.
According to statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), China’s global trade cooperation continued expanding in the first quarter. The country’s foreign trade with Belt and Road partner countries rose 2.2 percent to 5.26 trillion yuan, 0.9 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate, accounting for 51.1 percent of China’s total foreign trade. In particular, trade between China and ASEAN grew by 7.1 percent from one year earlier, and that with the five Central Asian countries by 6.9 percent.
“Expanding into diversified markets and deepening cooperation across industrial and supply chains will further reinforce the resilience of China’s foreign trade,” said an official with China’s GAC.
In addition, as China steps up the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, its vast domestic market has become a powerful anchor for foreign trade enterprises.
On April 13, China’s Ministry of Commerce launched “Premium Exports Homebound,” a campaign aiming at helping foreign trade companies pivot inward, promoting their export-ready products at home. Targeting provinces with strong foreign trade and consumer bases, the event features a range of themed matchmaking activities to open new sales channels and cushion the blow of global volatility. Industry associations, e-commerce platforms, and major retailers have thrown their weight behind the effort with a flurry of supportive measures.
“We will focus on managing its affairs well and use its ‘certainty’ to hedge against the ‘uncertainty’ of the external environment,” said an official with China’s Ministry of Commerce.
As China continues to unleash its vast market potential, supported by policies aimed at stabilizing the economy and foreign trade, its foreign trade is well-prepared to face various risks and challenges, the official said.
