Santa's workshop in Yiwu goes electric

Electronic Santa Claus mascots are popular at the Yiwu Small Commodities Market in Zhejiang province, especially those that can play saxophone.[Provided to China Daily]

Still, other items are like the Paddington Bear, a bit forlorn and in need of attention.

Yang Sumei's shop mainly sells Christmas hats and Christmas-themed stuffed toys. She is having a relatively sluggish year and even turned down offers because price bids were too low.

"Sales declined by 10 percent this year although we have already lowered our prices," she said. "Maybe it is because economic environment is not so encouraging in other countries."

But next year, Yang plans to expand into gadgets.

"Next year, I might change some of my goods into things with technology in them. Some of them sold really well," she said.

That's also been the case for more traditional items.

Chen Jinlin, a consultant to the Yiwu Christmas Goods Industry Association, said sales of traditional Christmas products, including artificial Christmas trees, cushions and Santa-image stuffed toys, saw a decline in both price and quantity.

"However, sales of new and high-tech products like electronic toys are surging," he said.

Statistics from the Yiwu customs office showed that from January to July, the city exported Christmas goods worth 450 million yuan, rising by 25.5 percent year-on-year. July alone saw exports of 270 million yuan.

"In the industry, we have a saying that the sales of Christmas goods in July can reflect the city's foreign trade performance as a whole," said Chen. "It seems that we are going to have a positive ending this year."

Liu Guangjie, general manager of Guangdong Cheerson Hobby Technology Co, shares the same optimism.