A collection of Christmas ornaments on the shelves of a store at the Yiwu International Trade City in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, which attracts Chinese and foreign buyers. [Photo by Ma Zhenhuan / China Daily]

Exports of Yiwu's Christmas items to the US, other markets will surge despite price rise

The last week of this year will be business as usual for Santa Claus, thanks to Zhejiang province's Yiwu, the global capital of Christmas decoration goods, industry insiders said.

Santa's trademark "Ho, ho, ho" won't be muted by the raging global trade tariff tensions and the consequent rise in the prices of festive paraphernalia like bells, bubble hats, the white-edged red coats, plastic trees, LED lights, dolls, shiny colorful lightweight balls and trinkets, all of which constitute a multibillion-dollar market.

Traders said they expect Christmas-related collective sales of nearly 300 Yiwu merchants to rise 25 percent year-on-year to nearly $5 billion this year.

Months before Christmas, the landmark Yiwu International Trade City, the chock-a-block sales and dispatch center for the festival goods, began throbbing with hectic activity. That's because for Yiwu's merchants and factory owners, the Christmas season starts in May, when customers' purchase orders start trickling in.

Factories run at full steam to meet the tasks of manufacturing and shipping their products across the world.

Zhang Dan of Kunyuan Christmas Craftwork Co said the firm's shipments doubled this year on the back of robust demand from Latin America, Europe and Africa. Her story makes fascinating reading, a tribute to the amazing entrepreneurial spirit that Yiwu fosters.

Her parents first came to Yiwu from Chengdu in Sichuan province more than 15 years ago. Zhang herself graduated from Sichuan Normal University four years ago and joined the family business in Christmas goods.

She has been focusing on exploring new markets through cross-border e-shopping platforms such as Amazon. In addition, given the rising popularity of Christmastime home decorations among Chinese people, the firm caters to the domestic market through local trading platforms.

Kunyuan runs a manufacturing unit in Dongyang near Yiwu. It has inked supply deals with dozens of overseas clients. The firm's cloth-based craftwork is something of a fad among Amazon users.

For Zhang, the key to robust sales lies in continuous communication with overseas clients and strong innovative design capabilities.

"We have engaged special designers in working out the latest trendy Christmas-related craftwork. For example, I research overseas destinations and get products designed in a way that is compatible with the local culture. Sometimes, our clients will also offer inspirational ideas on product designs," she said.

Zhang is one of the 470,000 market dealers in Yiwu. Dubbed the world's small commodities capital, Yiwu is best known for its Christmas-related merchandise.

That accounts for over 90 percent of the domestic output in the category, and 60 to 70 percent of the world's total, according to the Yiwu Christmas Products Industry Association.

"Sales performance of Christmas products this year is slightly better than last year, as they are nowadays being exported to more countries in Latin America and Europe," said Cai Qinliang, secretary-general of the association.

"Yiwu's Christmas goods are popular in South American nations such as Brazil. Besides, a large quantity was sold to Russia. Countries in Europe and the US also show strong and consistent demand."

Cai told Beijing-based China Times in a recent interview that exports of Christmas decoration goods from China to the US account for only a small portion (of Yiwu's combined exports). Exports registered growth this year despite the effects of the trade row, he said.

An article on the website of the Forbes magazine said rising tariffs on Chinese products "will make shopping in the upcoming Christmas season more expensive. US consumers will have to pay more for Christmas items that are usually imported from China".

Agreed Qiu Xuemei, manager of Weijiule, a Yiwu-based manufacturer of Christmas decorations. "Trade tensions have definitely had some effect on our exports, but the impact is not that significant."

Weijiule now focuses on markets in South America, Southeast Asia and Australia, she said. "We have a strong designer team in Huizhou of Guangdong, and our factory there mainly caters to high-end Christmas items, with the Yiwu outlet selling medium to low-end ones.

"In this way, we can cover the full range of Christmas items, catching up with the latest trends and designs.

"In the ever-changing market, it's the latest designs and trendy products that can generate the highest sales volumes.

"For example, recently, we launched a new night lamp through the Douyin short video platform during the Double Seven - the Chinese Valentine's Day on Aug 17. It instantly received over 300,000 hits and became a rage among consumers, but we can't meet the overwhelming number of orders."

The Yiwu International Trade City currently is home to over 75,000 shops that supply over 1.8 million kinds of commodities, including clothing, shoes, hardware and building materials, to more than 200 countries and regions. It attracts over 500,000 foreign buyers each year.

During the 24th China Yiwu International Commodities Fair in late October, over 204,700 buyers and participants, including over 8,000 foreign buyers, thronged the town, clinching over 60,000 deals worth 18.4 billion yuan ($2.67 billion).

"We will continuously enhance our efforts to improve product quality and innovate to make Yiwu a 'warehouse of the world'," said Lin Yi, Party secretary of Yiwu.

Official data showed Yiwu's trade was worth 171 billion yuan from January to August this year, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative have newly emerged as important export destinations, leading many merchants to add Arabic-language labels and manuals to their products, in addition to Chinese and English content.

Customs officials said India is the largest importer of Yiwu's goods, with trade volume exceeding 13 billion yuan in 2017, while Hungary and Angola notching up the top two year-on-year growth rates of 232 percent and 101 percent, respectively.

Chen Huadong in Yiwu contributed to this story.