2001 was the year China joined the WTO and a milestone in China’s opening to the outside world. Before that, in Yiwu, a small county in central Zhejiang famous for its small commodities, the export of small commodities was almost zero. One year later, the Yiwu market took a ride on the “WTO accession”, firmly grasped the development opportunity of economic globalization, and embarked on the road of internationalization. Today’s Yiwu has become a “world supermarket” with a maximum of 2,800 daily customs declarations for small commodity exports. Behind the geometric growth of customs declarations, it reflects the evolution of China’s foreign trade in the 20 years since its accession to the WTO.
At that time, in Yiwu Small Commodity Market, there were only a handful of people and enterprises that would handle import and export business, and export business was sporadic. In order for small commodity exporters to familiarize themselves with foreign trade business as soon as possible, customs officers frequently conduct enterprise research and guide enterprises to make local customs declarations. In this way, one-vote-one-vote business development, one company propaganda, one freight forwarding cultivation, in 2002, the import and export declarations in Jinhua increased by three times, and the increase was basically small commodity export declarations.
In the process of importing and exporting commodities, each commodity is required to declare a string of 10-digit codes, which is the tariff code column. In the early stage of export of small commodities, according to the declaration requirements of general trade, it means that each commodity must be declared in detail one by one. However, there are many kinds of small commodities for export. The small commodities in a container range from a dozen categories to dozens of categories. It is a walking “mobile supermarket”, and it is time-consuming and laborious to declare item by item. “Small commodity export procedures are cumbersome, there are many links, and the profit is still low.” Sheng Ming, the CEO of Jinhua Chengyi International Logistics Company, the earliest freight forwarding company established in Jinhua, recalled the original situation and was very emotional.
Today, more than 560,000 overseas merchants come to Yiwu to purchase goods every year, and the goods are exported to more than 230 countries and regions in the world. The maximum number of customs declarations for Yiwu small commodity exports exceeds 2,800.
Over the past 20 years, the export of small commodities has grown from nothing to excellence, and the pace of reform and innovation has never stopped. By continuously improving the level of opening to the outside world and developing new foreign trade development models, the market vitality has been continuously stimulated, and the trade facilitation system and mechanism in line with the world have been continuously improved. Under the guidance of the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, facing the clarion call of a new round of reform and opening up and common prosperity, the small commodity market will surely make new contributions in the new journey of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and deliver satisfactory answers. .