Jiang Renmei, who regarded Christmas as a hard word in her middle-school textbook, is now working for a company that exports 1,000 containers of Christmas ornaments a year.
Jiang and more than 200 fellow workers have to color up to 1,000 plastic Christmas decoration balls in
Yiwu Festival Arts andCrafts Co. located in the
Yiwu City of east China's Zhejiang Province.
Yiwu is the country's largest distributing center for small commodities.
"About 60 percent of the Christmas trees and decoration balls selling in the United States are produced by our company," said Wan Fuli, office director with the company.
With a total investment of 45 million yuan (about 5.4 million U.S. dollars) by a local privately-owned company, Xianrong Group,
Yiwu Festival has now more than 800 staff members.
Yiwu Festival begins to take in orders in February or March each year, enters its prime production season from May, and concludes delivery before mid-December, according to Wan.
"Most workers have gone back home for new year holidays. The executives, however, are preparing for the Frankfurt gifts trade fair slated for next January, when I may have contact with most ofour overseas clients," Wan said. "And one container of display items has already landed in Germany."
Customs statistics show, as of the end of November, local companies in
Yiwu exported 9.247 million U.S. dollars of Christmasaccessories this year. And the export volume hit 27.4 million dollars within the
Jinhua City, the superior authority of Yiwu.
"The actual export volume may be higher because the statistics have excluded items like Christmas trees and lamps," the
Jinhua Customs official Li Ning said.
According to Yang Dabiao, secretary-general with the Zhejiang
Yiwu Artware Industry Association, more than 600 manufacturers of Christmas goods are nestling in
Yiwu and its neighboring areas.
"About 80 percent of China's exports of Christmas products comefrom Yiwu, with the European Union, the United States, Russia, Latin America, Japan and the Republic of Korea as destination," Yang said.
Qiu Zengfa, head of the
Yiwu administration for industry and commerce, said more than 8,000 businessmen from about 170 countries and regions around the world are living in this county-level city for business, and up to 200,000 foreign businessmen come here each year, making bulk buys of small commodities to sell all over the world.
"Christmas accessories and related goods are labor-intensive products with low added value," Wan said.
"But we are now considering developing our own products so as to maximize profits," Wan said.
