In the ten years after its accession to the WTO, Yiwu gradually integrated into the “global village”

The core hints from the “chicken feathers” used to exchange sugar in the early years to the more than 1.7 million unique items on the market today. Yiwu’s small commodities continue to evolve. According to merchants, China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the past 10 years is the fastest-growing decade for small commodity trade.

In the past 10 years, every link in the production and sales chain of small commodities has been quietly changing. The product form has been upgraded and the business model is changing.

The world is flat. Yiwu and other countries in the world influence each other.

Ten years after China's accession to the WTO, the outside world brought new markets and new business opportunities. Yiwu merchants gradually integrated into the “global village” as they learned the rules of international trade.

â–  [Typical Product] Santa Clause Pose in Yiwu

“Compared with 10 years ago, the number and style of products have changed a lot,” said Zhu Yan, who runs Christmas products on the third floor of District 1, Yiwu International Trade City. The style of the product can be counted with your fingers. But now, as many types of Christmas items are available, they cannot be quantified at all.

According to statistics, Yiwu's Christmas toys, Christmas trees, and Christmas costumes add up to a total of nearly 15,000 varieties.

According to market merchants, changes in Yiwu's small commodities over the past 10 years may be a glimpse of Santa's demeanor. In the past, a dress, a smile, and some fillings inside produced a Santa Claus. Nowadays, Santa Claus in the market has a lot of expressions and various POSEs: some of them hold saxophone songs, some of them are riding bicycles, some are carrying a car gift, and so on.

According to reports, 10 months after China officially joined the WTO, Yiwu market entered a new era. In October 2002, the first district of International Trade City was officially put into operation. According to the industry's adjustment of the layout, flowers, toys, accessories and craft gifts have entered new markets one after another. Merchants' booths have increased to more than 10 square meters. At the same time, the number of small commodities has also grown geometrically.

The reporter learned from the market management department that, according to the classification of “Commodity Classification and Code”, the use and material are used as main classification marks, and Yiwu small commodities are divided into 16 categories and 9121 categories. The number of single items is more than 1.7 million.

â–  [Change in the market] Emerging markets have gradually changed into the forms of foreign trade's mainstream small commodities, which are due to changes in merchants, especially buyers from European, American and Middle Eastern consumer markets.

Before moving into the new market of the Second District of International Trade City, Yiwu Kepeng Electronics Co., Ltd. opened in the market. At that time, 70% of the foreign trade orders in the store came from Russia, and there were almost no other orders from the domestic and Middle East, Europe and the United States. However, after 10 years, the order structure of the store has changed significantly: US orders have come from behind, accounting for 80%; other from the EU, South America, the Middle East and other places.

China's accession to the WTO undoubtedly brought new markets to Yiwu merchants. Zhou Wenbin, head of the Foreign Trade Department of Yiwu Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, introduced that in 2000, Yiwu exported less than US$10 million to the United States; after China’s accession to the WTO, its exports to the United States increased rapidly: it exceeded US$100 million in 2001, rose to US$410 million in 2002, and rose in 2003. To 730 million U.S. dollars. According to customs statistics, in the first 10 months of this year, Yiwu exported 680 million U.S. dollars to the EU and 510 million U.S. dollars to the United States.

In addition to the surge in exports to the European and American markets, the volume of trade with the Middle East is also rapidly increasing. The reporter learned that during the period from 1990 to 2005, the WTO allowed seven Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to join. China's accession to the WTO just caught up with the golden period of development in the Middle East.

■ [Game Rules] Trade Barriers Forced Transformation of Enterprises “Mei Shili” is a toy company in Shangxi, Yiwu, which has grown rapidly in recent years. As orders in the United States soared three times, the company’s foreign trade orders this year are scheduled to expire next June. One of the important reasons is a certificate on the aisle wall on the second floor of the office—“ICTI” certification.

"With this certificate, it is equivalent to having a 'green card', and product exports can be unimpeded." The owner of the company, Wang Kai, introduced ICTI as an abbreviation of the International Toy Industry Association. ICTI promotes social responsibility and "guarantees that toys are produced in a safe and user-friendly environment." Chinese toy products must be certified by ICTI if they are to be sold in supermarkets in the United States. In Yiwu, there are few toy companies that pass this certification.

Wang Yu, who started as a trader, believes that China's entry into the WTO is a "stress" for Yiwu's small commodity trade -- it must constantly raise the environmental standards for products and enterprises.

“In the past, like guerrilla warfare, winning on the line, no matter what method was used, but after joining the WTO, Yiwu’s small commodity trade was included in the 'regular army' establishment. In this way, we must win the commercial war on the basis of respecting the rules.” He said that in the past, people only had to do business with their own people or foreigners in a few countries, but now trade has expanded to more than 100 countries and regions. Do not understand the other party's rules will definitely not work.

On July 20th and August 14th this year, the new EU toy safety directive and the new US toy safety regulations were implemented one after the other. These two standards that the industry called "the strictest new toy regulations in history" were once considered to be new trade barriers for Yiwu toy exports.

In fact, over the past 10 years, the requirements for imported products have been increasing in all countries and regions. Some merchants stated that this change is indeed a challenge for Yiwu’s small commodities that are “cheap”. However, if simply raising foreign standards as trade barriers, the pace of upgrading small commodities in Yiwu will only be slower.

â–  [Reporter's commentary] Yiwu merchants watch the news to do business A butterfly in the Amazon rain forest, occasionally flapping its wings, will cause a tornado in another corner of the world two weeks later. This phenomenon is called the "butterfly effect." ". After China's accession to the WTO, Yiwu merchants and business owners who are at the forefront of the world's trade procurement system have experienced the "touching the whole body."

Every night at 7 pm, Jin Qingxian, who is on a busy day in Yiwu International Trade City, will return to the CCTV's News Network on time. As a businessman dealing with foreign businessmen every day, she is most concerned about the international news of the “News Network”.

“If there is a trend in the field, maybe our business will be affected.” She said that understanding the recent major events at home and abroad is good for doing business.

In August of this year, a Syrian businessman booked more than 2,000 rechargeable lanterns. After receiving the deposit of RMB 20,000 from the other party, Jin Qingxian arranged the manufacturer to make the shipment in time. However, the order changed a few days before delivery. Syrian merchants do not want this shipment, and they hope to get back a deposit of 20,000 yuan.

Retired orders meant that there was a backlog of inventory, but Kim Chin-Sin finally agreed to return the purchase price in full. "I understand the customer's approach." The other party appeared before, she had learned from the news that the situation in Syria is turbulent and the local business environment is not good. Therefore, when the merchant submitted a return request, Jin Qingxian readily agreed. Afterwards, the Syrian merchants did not continue to place orders, but he was very grateful to the owner of the shop and said that the situation was stable and he would definitely take delivery of the goods.

Similarly, in March this year, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake occurred on the east coast of Honshu, Japan. Thousand kilometers away from the place where the earthquake occurred, Yiwu quickly responded.

The method of responding is quite characteristic of Yiwu—a large number of protective clothing, candles, outdoor lights and other disaster relief items were shipped to Japan. Yiwu merchants sighed and did not expect that they would be so “close” to a major earthquake.