National pilot zone

In 2011, the city was approved as a national pilot zone for the comprehensive reform of international trade.

Fu Rongzheng, general manager of an internet technology company in Yiwu that is mainly engaged in marketing and brand building, said at the time, "the new foreign trade, new e-commerce and new retail brought by the approval of the pilot zone will bring a new climax to the development of cross-border e-commerce in Yiwu".

True to Fu's words, Yiwu's commodities are now exported to more than 210 countries and regions. Statistics from Yiwu customs show that the city's exports of small commodities more than tripled between 2012 and 2021, increasing from $11.93 billion to $40.78 billion and accounting for 31.2 percent of the country's total.

"In the very beginning, when we came to Yiwu, this small-commodity city was not as large as it is now," Gholamhossein recalled. "However, the city's scale and the categories of commodities are growing, with the market being more and more international."

Indeed, many people around the world, and even in China, are probably unaware that they have intimate connections with products from Yiwu, ranging from daily life items to sports-related products.

For instance, since the early 2010s, the rising Christmas-related exports from Yiwu have made the city the world's largest manufacturing and distribution center for Christmas products, including tree decorations, Yuletide clothing, greeting cards, festive lights and packaging. Some 80 percent of the world's Christmas goods come from this city, according to statistics from the city's commerce bureau.

More recently, orders for British flags began to flood into Yiwu factories after Queen Elizabeth II died in September, and manufacturers have been busy producing and delivering soccer products related to the FIFA 2022 World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on Nov 20. To facilitate the delivery of the merchandise to fans across the globe, Yiwu has even set up the World Cup Special Transport Network, by which goods can travel from the ports of Ningbo and Shanghai to Hamad Port in Qatar in just 20 to 25 days.

In addition, with the approach of winter, Yiwu has seen surging demand from European countries for heating equipment amid the looming energy crisis there. Exports of products such as electric blankets and electric heaters have, so far in 2022, increased by 41.9 percent year-on-year to 190 million yuan ($26.2 million), according to the city's customs authorities.

Innovative initiatives

The growing international reach of Yiwu and its commodities is largely due to the innovative initiatives that have been implemented by Chinese authorities over the years, among them the opening of the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe cargo train network, also known as the China-Europe Railway Express freight train service, according to Gholamhossein.

"First of all, the transportation cost of our goods to Teheran is reduced through the China-Europe freight train, which also reduces the purchase cost of customers," he said. "Second, compared with traditional sea transportation, the train service shortens the transportation time."

In November 2014, the first China-Europe freight train was officially launched, starting from Yiwu and ending in Madrid. A little more than a year later, in February 2016, the route connecting Yiwu with Teheran was opened. Compared with the maritime route — which went from Shanghai to Iran's Bandar Abbas port — the 10,399-kilometer train journey cut the time by 30 days.

Yiwu customs figures indicate that in 2022, the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe freight train service has operated 1,000 trains, increasing 15.3 percent year-on-year. Since the Yiwu platform, which specializes in international freight train service, was unveiled in 2013, it has handled more than 4,410 trains carrying over 360,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of goods. Furthermore, 17 direct international railway freight lines from Yiwu to more than 50 countries and 160 cities are now in place.

In the past few years, Yiwu has tapped into the opportunities arising from the rapid development of Zhejiang's digital economy, and the city has vigorously developed a combination of livestreaming and e-commerce, with a particular focus on overseas clients.

Many businesses in Yiwu, including Gholamhossein's, have also begun to deploy overseas livestreaming with multiple languages.

In addition, foreign business owners in Yiwu have built warehouses overseas that serve as miniature markets, solving many problems related to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

So far, business owners in Yiwu have set up 166 overseas warehouses around the world, including in the Philippines, Spain, Germany and the United States.

Gholamhossein's warehouse in Iran has been developing steadily in recent years, and "the warehouse area has also been expanding", he said.

His business growth has seen his company open branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and the company has expanded its market share in other regions and countries, including Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.