The Yiwu Market is located in the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai. [Photo/Yiwu Media Center]
Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province, reported that the total value of its imports and exports hit 268.17 billion yuan ($39.08 billion) in the first seven months of the year, a 33.8 percent increase year-on-year, making sustained contributions to the province's foreign trade development.
The city has implemented a series of measures to help enterprises attract foreign trade orders, including applying several chartered flights to carry global buyers, collect changes in industry policies to assist enterprises in making a technical trade measure response plan and build the overseas China (Yiwu) commodity market.
Yiwu's third chartered business flight bringing 163 South Korean buyers to China arrived in Hangzhou on Aug 28 following ones from Pakistan and India.
Zhejiang is the first in the country to organize such chartered flights and regular flights to transport overseas buyers to China to make purchases on site, which is an important move to help stabilize foreign trade.
Officials noted that over 10 chartered business flights will depart from Jiaxing and Yiwu to deliver orders.
In addition, a China (Yiwu) commodity market opened in Dubai on June 30.
Based in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA), the market caters to the retail and wholesale industries and is part of the first phase of the Dubai Traders Market, a 550-hectare marketplace within JAFZA.
With a total investment of about 1.06 billion yuan ($158.15 million), Dubai's Yiwu Market spans over 200,000 square meters, split between 324 customs-bonded warehouses and 1,600 Chinese mainland showrooms.
The Yiwu Market is expected to serve as a trade bridge between the UAE and markets across the globe. By accommodating the facilities of international brands, the market will act as a regional buffer for their products in case of disruptions to the supply chain, ensuring demand for these products can continue to be met.
