After 20 years of development, the Yiwu International Commodities Fair has become mature and efficient, with enormous and profound changes taking place in its exhibition size, industry classification, exhibition structures and highlights. One point that is particularly noticeable is its high degree of internationalization, with which it has caught wide global attention.

Foreign participants on the rise

A growing number of foreign enterprises are attending. In the early days, the few foreign faces would catch everyone’s attention. Nowadays, however, a variety of them gather here, purchasing goods while boosting the trade turnover of the Fair.

Professional buyers at the 19th Fair also hit a record high, attracting a total of 196,957 customers from 203 countries and regions, with an increase over the previous fair of 1.76 percent, while the number of foreign buyers was 22,201, an increase of 6.3 percent. The five foreign countries and regions with the most purchasers are: South Korea, India, Taiwan, Malaysia and the United States.

On the one hand, more and more European and American merchants are coming, which shows that Yiwu commodities are being recognized and accepted by a wider range of people, making a shift from the low-end to the high-end market.

On the other hand, Yiwu Fair has become an important platform for cross-border purchases of large retailers, such as Metro and Tesco, which means the fair has taken a worthy step towards becoming an international and professional exhibition.

A worldwide purchase feast

The fair has opened its doors for Yiwu’s international trade, and extended its openness. The 19th fair had a total of 4500 standard booths, with around 2500 enterprises from 59 countries and regions on hand, boasting a turnover of 16.62 billion yuan ($2.71 billion) and an increase of 1.68 percent. In addition, the turnover of foreign trade was $1.70 billion, up 7.16 percent.

It had commodities in seven categories on display: hardware, electronic & electrical appliances, jewelry accessories, daily necessities, handicrafts, stationery and sporting goods, and knitwear. The Yiwu market also has goods from over 200,000 factories across the country, which fully guarantees the supply.

At the same time, Yiwu has excellent service providers from the dining industry, hotels, transportation, entertainment, and advertising, which will meet the needs of customers at different levels. What is particularly worth mentioning is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened a “green channel” for the fair: with a Yiwu fair invitation, foreign investors are able to be granted a business visa in the Chinese Embassy or Consulate General of China in their own countries.

The Yiwu fair is not only aimed at China, but also for the whole world. The 20th Yiwu Fair will offer a warm welcome to business elites from around the world.