China’s massive Yiwu wholesale hub at the forefront of trade-reform efforts
Deeply ingrained institutional problems will be resolved, and better Belt and Road Initiative promotional efforts will be made under new State Council plan
The world’s largest wholesale hub for small manufactured items is expected to be enhanced as a symbol for international trade following the State Council’s approval of plans to more comprehensively deepen and reform its development.
Specific items on the deepening-development list included maximising the function of tariff-free zones, reforming procurement systems, proactively connecting to international trade standards, improving management of export companies’ categorisation, and building 100 good-quality international trade corporations.
“The more intensive development this time will bring more opportunities to Yiwu,” Zhu Keli, the founding head of the International New Economic Research Institute, was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Securities News. “Yiwu can go deep into reforming and innovating the area of international trade, improve its trade structure and enhance quality.”
Yiwu saw its total trade value reach 560.2 billion yuan (US$77 billion) in the first 10 months of this year – 18.3 per cent more than the same period last year, according to customs figures.
Yiwu has abundant experience in reforming international trade
The deepening-development plan will also support the high-quality development of China-Europe express trains to enhance the circulation of goods.
Being an important economic driver within the Yangtze River Delta, Yiwu’s transformation would help buttress China’s “world’s factory” role in the face of a challenging bilateral trade landscape between China and the European Union on electric vehicles, and with the US-China trade war expected to intensify amid threats from US president-elect Donald Trump to levy more tariffs on Chinese goods.