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Christmas in the world cannot be separated from this place in China
Time：2020-01-10 Clicks：
Rio de Janeiro is in mid-summer in December. Christmas here is less snowy, and the festive atmosphere is even warmer.
On this important Brazilian holiday, Brazilians often buy many holiday items to decorate their families. Daniel Howell has never seen snow. He bought a little snowman decoration and hung it on the Christmas tree at home. He may not know that this little snowman has connected him to a small Chinese city half a globe away.
In the northern hemisphere of Yiwu, China, there is a festive scene in a residential community named Futian District 2. In front of the street, Christmas products such as Santa Claus, reindeer, garland, and glittering lights are full of eye-catching products, and eye-catching products are often placed in eye-catching locations such as the doorway of the store or the street.
Here, the concept of "Christmas" is more about a "big business".
Futian No. 2 District, known as China's "Christmas Village", a Christmas goods professional street, brings together about 300 merchants, plus more than 100 merchants in other commercial cities in Yiwu, providing nearly 80% of the global Christmas market. The annual export value of the products exceeds RMB 1.6 billion.
"We provide a wide range of cheap Christmas products around the world, and Yiwu has a very complete supply chain and manufacturing equipment to create such a mass." Cai Qinliang, Secretary General of the Yiwu Christmas Articles Industry Association, told the International Financial News reporter, "Yiwu has many export regions for Christmas products, mainly for South America, Central and South America, Russia, and ASEAN regions. It has a broad layout and is not susceptible to the local influence of a single country or region. This year, the sales volume of the entire industry is still slightly increasing."
Big business in a professional street
Cai Qinliang told the International Financial News reporter that before 2000, there were only about five Yiwu producers of Christmas products, mainly relying on the Canton Fair and foreign business docking transactions. After 2000, with the country's further opening up and the development of an export-oriented economy, foreign trade orders received by merchants in Yiwu continued to increase.
Since then, Yiwu's Christmas products industry has been steadily rising, and the Christmas products specialty streets such as Futian District 2 have gradually filled the gaps in the layout of the business city industry and the restrictions on business places. More and more countries are beginning to know the distribution center of Christmas products in Yiwu. Up to now, there are more than 400 merchants operating Yiwu in Yiwu.
Yang Yanjuan, general manager of Jingqi Christmas Crafts Factory and Jasmine Christmas Crafts Company, started to sell Christmas sales in China from 2006. “At that time, there were not many Christmas flower pullers in the market. We are still very optimistic about this industry”.
Sure enough, Yang Yanjuan ushered in the first business from the United States shortly after opening. "The business has also been very good in the following years. We have continued to increase the scale of production. From the initial 4 production machines, it has gradually increased to 6 units. Production scale with 12 machines. "
In the product display area of Yiwu International Trade City, Yang Yanjuan has a variety of pull flower products. Pull open the display boards layer by layer, as if walking into the shining fairy forest.
Because there are too many types of Christmas gifts and the pictures are not easy to select, the proportion of producers using e-commerce is not very large, which has given merchants a set of hard skills.
For more than a decade, Yang Yanjuan has dealt with countless times with customers from all over the world, and she likes many of them. "Europeans demand exquisite, high-quality products, and also consider environmental protection. South American and Middle Eastern customers, It ’s complicated. Customers in Spain and Italy like products with a uniform color such as gold, silver, and red. This year they also proposed matte. Indian customers like fancy colors. "
"Now, the requirements of customers for products have been further enhanced. We need to prepare barcodes and customer company logos when we deliver. This is equivalent to getting finished products sold directly to consumers from us. And in Yiwu, related Printing, packaging manufacturers, etc. have also been very mature. "
Yiwu's Christmas product storefronts often correspond to one factory or several factories. This "front store and back factory" and "factory-street docking" form creates a complete industrial chain of Christmas product production, sales, and packaging.
Yang Yanjuan also has her own pull flower production factory. "Originally the factory was in the countryside, but now with the expansion of the scale, it has moved to the industrial park in the urban area."
On December 20, when the reporter came to Yang Yanjuan's factory located in the Sansanli Industrial Park, which is half an hour away from Yiwu city, the vigorous production scene a few months ago is gone, and there are only five or six workers left , Doing some scattered work.
By convention, foreign customers often make inquiries in January and February of that year, place orders in February and March, and complete orders before April. Yiwu's manufacturers ship from April to October, so most of the Christmas in December The supplies factory has completed this year's order and has begun to shut down.
After the peak production season, Yang Yanjuan has n’t been to the factory building for a while. "When it was the busiest, the whole floor of the factory was full of pull flowers, and the workers worked at full capacity. Now everyone can rest and wait for the New Year. Before getting busy again. "
Emerging markets bring new growth points
The United States "Washington Post" once commented: "Christmas in the world cannot be separated from 'Made in China'."
In September 2018, the United States formally decided to impose tariffs on US $ 200 billion of Chinese goods, with an initial tariff rate of 10%, which also includes Christmas products such as Christmas lights and wrapping paper.
"Additional tariffs have limited impact." According to Cai Qinliang, Yiwu Christmas products are mainly exported to South America, Central and South America, Russia and the ASEAN region.
"Brazil accounts for about 20% and Russia accounts for 20%. Products exported to ASEAN and Russia have declined in recent years and are now back to their previous levels. Sales of Christmas products have been relatively stable, and our products are settled in RMB. Overall, the industry ’s sales have increased slightly this year. ”Cai Qinliang said.
Guangdong, another major exporter of Christmas products in China, has also been less affected by the tariff policy this year. The policy has not brought more tension to producers. A producer of Christmas products in Guangdong told the media that the company's export business this year is even better than last year. Orders from regular customers increased by 30%, and some US customers confirmed their orders earlier this year due to trade risks.
According to data provided by Yiwu Customs to the International Financial News, from January to November 2018, Yiwu exported Christmas goods of 1.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. The seasonality of Christmas goods exports is obvious. The first quarter of each year is the off-season, and the second quarter gradually warms up. The third quarter enters the peak period, and the fourth quarter gradually declines. In September, Yiwu exported Christmas goods of 430 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.6%, a month-on-month increase of 9.1 %, The highest peak since this year.
By market, emerging markets have brought new points of growth. In recent years, Zhejiang Province has become increasingly close in trade with emerging markets such as Latin America and ASEAN, and Yiwu Manufacturing has made positive progress in developing Latin American and ASEAN markets. Data show that from January to November, Zhejiang Province exported 530 million yuan of Christmas supplies to Latin America, an increase of 26.9%, accounting for 32.9% of Christmas goods exports; 320 million yuan of exports to the European Union, an increase of 11.4%; 170 million yuan of exports to ASEAN, an increase 32.5%. In addition, exports to the countries along the “Belt and Road” were 620 million yuan, an increase of 14.5%.
Moreover, most of the links in the Christmas product supply chain are located in China, and if customers try to move purchases to other regions in the short term, they will pay higher costs.
"No part of this ecosystem wants to be the first to move," said Michael McCool, managing director of consultancy AlixPartners LLP in Hong Kong.
Cai Qinliang is very confident in the development of Yiwu's Christmas products industry. He believes that Yiwu's Christmas products have a price advantage, and Yiwu has a strong agglomeration effect.
Yang Yanjuan also said that "this year's order volume has increased", and she is planning to continue to expand the production scale and add another 3 to 4 machines.
Of course, both Cai Qinliang and Yang Yanjuan still face many challenges.
"The impact of rising raw material prices, increasing labor costs, unstable exchange rates, and fierce competition in the industry has reduced the price of pull top products in recent years. A top was previously profitable by more than 2 cents, but now only a few cents." Means.
Cai Qinliang also said that since the beginning of this year, the price of some products with high labor costs has increased, and the unit price has been reduced for products that increase production efficiency through quantitative production. Many manufacturers in Yiwu moved back to their original locations, and the cost was relatively reduced.
In Yiwu, there are currently three or four hundred manufacturers of Christmas products. Due to the increase in labor costs in recent years, some factories have withdrawn their origins, but sales remain in Yiwu. "This year's shipments are later than before, because some manufacturers withdrawing their origins have taken more time in logistics." Cai Qinliang said.
Of course, these challenges cannot stop the footsteps of Christmas goods merchants. More and more whimsical ideas are being brought into Chinese-made Christmas items.
"The variety will increase every year and designed according to customer needs." Cai Qinliang said, "Previously, foam, wood, metal, acrylic and other materials were used, and now some products that emit light and sound are produced."
Yang Yanjuan is also developing her new products. She makes wool tops into garlands and Christmas trees. A mature worker can make 300 to 500 a day.
