Zheng Siming, owner of a fitness equipment maker in Shanghai, is one of the beneficiaries of the surging orders, and he admitted his unexpected jackpot was down to the coronavirus.

“This Christmas appears to be so different and special,” the 45-year-old entrepreneur said. “Our dumbbells (for fitness use) became bestsellers.”

The dumbbells, that sell for US$6 a pair to wholesalers in the US and Europe, have witnessed a surge in orders since July as people in the West started to spend more time at home amid social-distancing rules.

At Zheng’s factory, 70,000 pairs of the muscle-building weights were produced between July and October, more than the 30,000 more than in the whole of 2019.

Most were shipped to buyers in Germany where factories were closed down to fight the spread of Covid-19.

“Dumbbells were the unlikely beneficiary of the coronavirus,” Zheng said. “The disease outbreak drove up sales of the equipment as Americans and Europeans delved into their pockets during the shopping season.”

China’s outbound shipments climbed to an all-time monthly high in November, topping US$268 billion, up 21.1 per cent on the year.

The country’s trade surplus more than doubled to US$75.4 billion from the same period in 2019.

The imbalance of exports and imports exacerbated a shortage of shipping containers in China, pushing ocean freight rates up by as much as 300 per cent in the past three months.

China was recognised as the world’s factory after its entry to the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

Its manufacturers of consumer products, all the way from cigarette lighters and key chains to clothes and shoes, flourished as exports surged.

But the world’s second-largest economy has been losing its lustre as a manufacturing hub over the past three to five years as higher land and labour costs eroded Chinese-made products’ pricing competitiveness.

Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam and Cambodia have secured increasing orders from developed economies, denting the amount of business coming the way of Chinese manufacturers.

“China still has the complete supply chain and skilled workers, and that has proved important to Western buyers when they made their orders for the Christmas shopping season,” said Eric Han, senior manager with business advisory firm Shanghai Suolei. “Even after businesses recover in Southeast Asia some time next year, mainland manufacturers are likely to retain some of the orders previously placed there.”

Orders from abroad for fitness equipment, toys, textiles and glassware products have boomed since July, according to Chinese manufacturers.

Transaction value per capita increased 16 per cent year on year in its US stores and 15.5 per cent in Spain, he added.

Exports of Christmas-related products from Yiwu were valued at 1.86 billion yuan (US$284.5 million) in January to October, down 3.1 per cent year on year, data from the local customs authorities showed.

“Christmas is the high season for shopping in Europe and the US, but it is not just about the Santa Claus decorations,” said Zheng Sihui, a sales manager with Guyuan Knitwear. “We are selling face masks with Christmas elements to help Westerns keep their festive mood.”

The manager said protective masks adorned with prints of Christmas trees and Santa Claus were an easy sell at 1 yuan a piece this year, offsetting the declines in other Christmas-related products.

Li Liangjun, general manager of Shanghai-based Everlasting textile firm, credited the Chinese governments’ policies to bring the pandemic under control.

“The export boom largely beat our expectations,” he said. “The government did a good job. Foreign buyers chose Chinese-made products because this market appears to be safe and healthy to them.”

The decrease in prices followed a 3.7 per cent rise in 2019.

Miniso remains upbeat about its global expansion plan.

“Normally, we open 80 to 100 new stores a year in Europe and add 50 to 100 stores in North America,” Huang said. “Over the next 10 year, I believe the US market has the potential to accommodate 2,000 outlets of ours.”