Looking back at the first half of 2025, the key word for Bao Haigang, a merchant in Yiwu, known as the world's "supermarket" in East China's Zhejiang Province, is "busy." On Monday, when reached by the Global Times, Bao said he was in the middle of a business meeting and he could spare only a few minutes. During the brief interview, Bao described strong growth in his export business.

Bao's company, Yiwu Feitun Electronic Product Co, which specializes in TV boxes, Bluetooth speakers, and chargers, saw double-digit growth, with notable progress in tapping into new markets such as Africa and Central Asia. "Right now, we're still very busy taking and delivering orders from clients from around the world, from Latin America to Asia," Bao told the Global Times on Monday.

Since the beginning of the year, global trade has faced tremendous uncertainties due to US tariff policies. Then in April, the US announced sweeping tariffs against all of its trading partners, including China, causing severe disruptions to trade. However, despite the uncertainties and disruptions, Yiwu saw solid exports growth in the first half of the year, highlighting the strong resilience of China's exports sector.

China is scheduled to release data on imports and exports in the first six months of 2025 next week.

Great adaptability

Bao's hectic experience in the first half of the year is also shared by many merchants in Yiwu.

When the Global Times reached Zhang Lei, who runs a small commodity factory in Yiwu, by phone, he was preparing a batch of toys for delivery. "We just got an order from a foreign client who needs the goods urgently," Zhang said, adding that he started working very early in the morning and hoped to finish the shipment on time.

Asked if this pace was unusual, Zhang said that busy moments like this come and go, but this year in particular, some clients have been rushing orders due to growing uncertainties in global trade. "You never know what might happen next, so they prefer to act quickly," he said.

Amid global trade woes, Yiwu merchants have demonstrated great adaptability, taking proactive measures to seize opportunities emerging from new market demands.

"More e-commerce clients are emerging because there are still opportunities to provide goods and services to both domestic and international platforms through a well-managed supply chain," Bao told the Global Times.

Meanwhile, the local government has also taken concrete measures to support businesses to overcome challenges in global trade.

Since early 2025, the city has focused its efforts on expanding international markets, with the focus on regions like Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South America and Africa. From January to June, Yiwu signed 14 new brand overseas projects, bringing the total to 60 projects implemented across 28 countries and regions, serving more than 5,000 merchants to expand into the global market, according to media reports.

The joint efforts of businesses and the government have translated into strong data.

According to a recent forecast released by the Yiwu small commodity market on its mid-2025 performance, it expects to achieve a net profit attributable to shareholders of between 1.63 billion yuan ($227.2 million) and 1.7 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.57 or 17.4 percent, respectively.

"Despite the current complex and changing international trade environment, with the support of a new round of comprehensive international trade reform pilot projects, the Yiwu market has shown strong resilience," read the forecast.

While data for the first half of 2025 haven't been released yet, Yiwu's total imports and exports in the first five months jumped by 23.7 percent year-on-year to 327.1 billion yuan, with exports registering a 23.7 percent increase.

Overall, China's exports sector also recorded a year-on-year growth of 7.2 percent in the first five months of 2025, reaching 10.67 trillion yuan, according to official data.

Solid confidence

Notably, many Yiwu merchants remain firmly confident for businesses in the rest of the year, with many already predicting strong exports, citing various factors.

For Wen Congjian of Yiwu Danas Import and Export Co, the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico, though still a year away, presents a great opportunity to boost his company's exports.

"This year, despite the tariffs, our US clients are still placing orders," Wen told the Global Times, projecting that the busy season will arrive in October as preparations ramp up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. "Next year's World Cup is expected to provide a strong boost, especially as the US is such a huge consumer market."

Talking about the business strategy, Wen said few manufacturers offer a full range of World Cup-related products like his company does. "For each item we produce, we apply for patents on both the style and design," Wen said, adding that they also run their own stores on US platforms like Amazon, which attracts customers to place orders directly.

Yiwu merchants attribute their optimism to their strong product competitiveness, which offers stability in a changing environment. Many are proactively expanding and diversifying their export channels to create more balanced and resilient market opportunities.

Benefiting from long-term advantages in cost-effectiveness and continuously improving quality, Yiwu manufacturing's competitiveness in the global market remains strong despite ongoing fluctuations and uncertainties, said Bao, who also heads Yiwu's small commodity chamber.

"I believe the second half of the year will remain promising, especially in Latin America and South America, where economies are rising, aligning with our target markets. Emerging markets like Africa also hold strong potential," Bao added.

Bao said that strong competitiveness of Yiwu products lies in quality, affordability, and a solid reputation built over time - helping sustain growth even during difficult periods.

(Source: Gloabl Times)