Small Commodities,Big Prospects

By+Ma+Li

The scene of vendors wandering about the streets and peddling their wares in Yiwu， a small city in east Chinas Zhejiang Province， is gone， never to return.

The city has developed into an internationally recognized hub for small commodities trading. It has attracted 13，000 resident foreign business people and its daily passenger flow volume had surpassed 200，000 by 2013. More than 170 categories of small commodities were exported from Yiwu to 219 countries and regions in 2013， with a gross value of imports and exports of as much as $18.61 billion.

Inhabiting a world that is getting more interconnected， it appears that the only thing not shrinking in Yiwu is the profits.

Logistics channels

A strong logistics network is the cornerstone of Yiwus development. To facilitate the exporting of small commodities， the local government has been committed to building a diversified international logistics system encompassing land， rail， air and sea.

“Cargo was first transported to Ningbo， a port city in Zhejiang， by truck， then shipped to a Russian port by sea， and lastly sent to Alma-Ata by railway，” said Barker， a Kazakh businessman， who used to transport commodities from Yiwu to Kazakhstan. “It took about 45 days， and the freight charge could be as high as $8，000 per 40 feet high cube container.”

With the promotion of international transport and customs transit in Yiwu， it only takes five days for commodities to arrive at Alataw Pass in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， which is on the border of China and Kazakhstan， and 12 days for those commodities to be put on sale. The freight charge has also been lowered to $5，500 per 40 feet high cube container.

On April 23， 2013， Yiwu Customs， the countrys only county-level customs， released a customs transit policy concerning railway transportation to facilitate the exports of small commodities to Central Asian countries. “After being declared at Yiwu Customs， cargoes can arrive at Alataw Pass within five days，” said Shao Hongbin， Deputy Chief of Yiwu Customs.

Customs transit for railway transportation is designed for small commodities being exported to Eurasian countries. It is more economical and efficient to declare commodities at Yiwu Customs， transport them by Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway to Alataw Pass and then export them， said Shao， adding that the preferential policy will help Yiwu further expand its reach in commodity market.

Now， routes connecting Alataw Pass and Khorgos in Xinjiang with Russia and Central Asian countries as well as those passing Manzhouli of northeast Chinas Heilongjiang Province and heading for Russia have been opened up and attracted enterprises from Taizhou and Wenzhou of Zhejiang， and Wuxi of Jiangsu Province to make export declarations in Yiwu.

Since April， exports from Yiwu to Central Asia have reached $6.86 million， up 32.2 times over the same period of the previous year. During the first four months of this year， Yiwu dispatched 1，410 standard containers through Alataw Pass and Khorgos. This route will be extended to Europe in August.

Yiwu also has an inland port station， which was put into operation in October 2011. By now， the inland port has attracted more than 250 international freight forwarders and enterprises engaged in shipping， customs declaration， exports and imports.

Since the Yiwu-Beilun route of sea-railway combined transportation was opened in October 2013， it has become more convenient to ferry small commodities from Ningbo Port to Central Asian and European countries.

Moreover， Yiwu Airport， which is still undergoing construction， has been partially opened since October 2007， and a passenger air route has been put in place between Yiwu and Hong Kong.

High efficiency

Even before the implementation of the international railway transportation， Yiwu Customs had promulgated the innovation of paperless customs declaration.

“In the past， enterprises had to go through complicated formalities in customs declaration and clearance. Now， instead of having to shuttle between Yiwu and other ports， and between enterprises and customs departments， just a few mouse clicks will do，” said Ding Lanfang， who has been engaged in the trade of high-end tableware for almost 20 years.

The paperless reform has remarkably reduced manpower costs for both logistics enterprises and customs departments， while the 24-hour customs clearance mechanism has greatly enhanced efficiency. According to Yiwu Customs， 99 percent of export declaration forms have been automatically examined and approved， and enterprises can be saved 6 million yuan （$960，600） in delivery costs.

“We have the most advanced intelligent monitoring control system and a set of rapid container inspection equipment worth 30 million yuan （$4.8 million）， which has cut down the time needed for the inspection of every single container to five minutes，” said a Yiwu Customs official.

According to statistics from Yiwu Customs， the number of standard containers shipped to Central Asia countries surged from 52 in 2012 to 618 in 2013.

Online and global

On October 21， 2010， the worlds largest small commodity wholesale market launched its official website Yiwubuy.com， and 70，000 brickand-mortar stores were made available online， ushering in a brand new era of e-commerce for the Yiwu wholesale market.

“More than 5，000 college graduates engaged in e-commerce business are based here. The local government welcomes them to pursue their own career here，” Wang Kuiming， Executive Vice Mayor of Yiwu， told Beijing Review.

According to Wang， by the end of April， more than 2 million kinds of commodities had been traded on Yiwubuy.com and the number of total online orders had surpassed 60 million yuan （$9.6 million）， with daily page views hitting 1.5 million.

On May 18， the beta version of a global marketing platform also went online， with 700，000 kinds of commodities on offer. So far， it stands as the largest cross-border e-commerce platform in China.

“In September 2013， the local government designated IZP Global to build the platform， which aims to connect stores directly with customers through its big data intelligent classification technology，” said Wang.

Yu Jing， Manager of Yiwu Auspicious Import and Export Co. Ltd.， has her company located in the Yiwu International Trade Mart. “Businesses here can enjoy comprehensive and trustworthy services without having to venture out the door，” said Yu.

She said that not only does she appreciate the series of services provided by the platform， which range from taking pictures for samples to uploading， but also the extensive presence of IZPs operating centers and service teams.

As Wang stated， a total of 18 e-commerce parks have been established or are under construction across Yiwu. And eight of them， which have been operating for more than one year， registered a gross transaction value of 3 billion yuan （$480.03 million） in 2013.