Its over 75,000 shops feed about 219 countries and regions across the globe with as many as 1.8 million different products.

You might not have known that there is a place called Yiwu on earth but what you are putting on may just have come from there. The hitherto little-known locality in central Zhejiang Province of China has gained fame over the years as the world’s biggest small commodities market. The ‘China Commodity City’ as it is popularly called is simply unique in statistics.

According to Xiong Tao, Vice Mayor of Yiwu, the market covers a business area of more than 5.5 sq. km, owns more than 75,000 shops, has 200,000 suppliers who mostly deal in daily necessities and about 214,000 daily visitors. He disclosed that over 1.8 million different kinds of commodities are exported daily from the market to over 219 countries and regions of the world, 65 per cent of which are export. Over 70 per cent of Christmas gifts across the world have their origins in Yiwu. “The market was appraised as the largest commodities wholesale market in the world by the UN, World Bank, the Morgan Stanley and other authorities,” Mr Xiong Tao said. All these, he added, “make Yiwu International Trade Mart the sea of commodities and paradise of shoppers.” It is also a centre of E-commerce.

Obviously, the market today stands out as a veritable source of revenue for the local government of Zhejiang and the mainland China as a whole. Its trade volume last year stood at over 34 billion dollars and 23 per cent of her exports were Africa-bound. Her Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached 16 billion dollars. As countries are battling to improve exports to tap foreign earnings, Yiwu’s municipality is rather struggling to step up imports to slightly change its 99 per cent export-dominated trade balance.

In a chat with Cameroon Tribune, Senegalese-born Souleman, President of African businessmen in Yiwu City said business is conducive in the locality thanks to ‘local government support.’ The Mayor, he said, has extended the validity of resident permit to two years for qualified foreigners, giving them the stability to trade. Little wonder Souleman has been singled out as Africa’s 2015 highest businessman in Yiwu with 200,000 containers exported from China to Africa last year and a business turnover mark of 300 million Yuan.