tirsdag 28. april 2026

Made in China means made in Yiwu

The city of Yiwu in Zhejiang province is small by Chinese standards, with fewer than 1.9 million inhabitants. But it is a global trade hub, home to the world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities. More than 80% of Christmas decorations sold worldwide are said to come from Yiwu.

Some basic statistics capture the scale of the Yiwu International Trade Market: 6.4 million square metres, 75,000 stands, over 2.1 million product lines, and around 220,000 visitors a day. Nearly 600,000 containers are loaded here every year and shipped to more than 200 countries or territories.

Yiwu doesn’t showcase flashy innovations but instead comprises a reliable manufacturing network dedicated to the large-scale production of everyday goods. An order placed at a stand goes out to decentralised clusters of factories spread across the Zhejiang countryside and beyond.