The Rapid Recovery Of The Tourism Market Makes Yiwu'S Luggage Export Hot

There are more and more signs that the global tourism industry, which was trapped by the epidemic earlier, is recovering strongly. The confidence index recently released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization predicts that the number of international tourists arriving in the world may recover to 80% to 95% of the number before the outbreak. The rapid recovery of the tourism market has greatly increased the demand for all kinds of bags. As one of the export sales bases of domestic bags, Yiwu has received a lot of global purchase orders.

Recently, with the facilitation of entry of overseas purchasers, Yiwu launched a global purchaser invitation campaign and released ten measures for foreign-related services, the daily average number of foreign businessmen entering the International Trade City has reached more than 2000, and the second zone luggage area has also welcomed a wave of foreign purchasers. According to the data provided by Yiwu Customs, the export of Yiwu bags from January to February this year was 2.69 billion yuan, up 26.2% year on year.

China is the world's largest manufacturer of bags. The data shows that the bags produced in China have accounted for nearly 40% of the global market share. With the return of overseas merchants, China's luggage exports have shown a sustained recovery trend this year.

?? The luggage industry has developed rapidly

"There is always one on the way, body and soul.". In fact, whether at home or abroad, most people in various countries like to travel and explore after work. All kinds of bags and suitcases, as personal "tools" loaded with "food, clothing, housing and transportation" necessities, are indispensable and important accessories in travel.

In the world's largest small commodity distribution center, the luggage industry in Yiwu is mainly concentrated in the second district market of the International Trade City, with more than 2300 luggage operators.

"Hello, landlady, I have come to order again." On March 20, Aldi, a Sudanese foreign businessman based in Yiwu, once again came to Wu Feifei's shop, which was the third time this year that he came to buy women's bags. After half an hour of negotiation, a foreign trade order was generated.

The purchase amount is more than 200000 yuan, which is a medium order. Wu Feifei, holding the invoice book, said with a smile: "Aldi has purchased 500000 yuan of goods in the store this year, and the purchase volume is significantly higher than that in previous years, mainly reflected in the quantity. For example, in previous years, only 10 pieces of a bag were ordered, and this year it has increased to 15 pieces."

Such changes benefited from the recovery of the global tourism industry and brought the most direct "dividend effect". The reporter learned that two thirds of Aldi's business is luggage business, but in the past three years, affected by the epidemic, he could not come to Yiwu to purchase, and the purchase volume declined sharply. Since January 8 this year, China has adjusted its entry and exit policies. After learning this news, Aldi immediately applied for visas and bought air tickets, and arrived in Yiyi before the opening of the International Trade City.

"Everything is great in Yiwu, and my business is back on track. The customer's order has also come, and more bags will be purchased this year. It is expected that more than 20 cabinets will be sent abroad." Aldi said that for foreign consumers, backpacks are the first choice for traveling, while luggage is too bulky, and only used for long distance travel or business affairs, Therefore, the demand for backpacks will be greater than that for suitcases. Up to now, the purchase volume of Aldi in Yiwu has exceeded that of the whole year of 2020.

In recent years, the luggage industry in Yiwu has developed rapidly. According to the data from Tianyan, there are more than 293000 luggage enterprises in Yiwu at present, including more than 85000 newly registered enterprises in 2022, with a growth rate of 48.9%.

?? Order return to Yiwu

Recently, the number of foreign businessmen has increased significantly, and orders have also returned to the market, which is the intuitive feeling of some luggage operators.

"Looking at our order data, this time last year it was 2.6 million yuan, and this year it reached 3 million yuan, with a growth rate of 20%~30%." The operator Bao Jianling mainly exports leisure bags, and the customers mainly come from Africa, South America and other places. She told the reporter that because the supply of the entire industrial chain and the workers on the production line of her own factory had shrunk during the epidemic prevention and control period, although the foreign trade market of luggage has recovered strongly, it is now in the stage of "production capacity and supply chain are not matched", and the enterprise is actively adjusting.

It is understood that in order to speed up the recovery of Yiwu's foreign trade, since last August, the Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the Foreign Affairs Office and other departments have received four batches of 564 foreign purchasers in the form of commercial charter flights, driving purchase orders of $261 million. On January 1 this year, the Ten Measures of Yiwu to Optimize the International Business Environment and Foreign related Services was officially implemented; On January 8, Yiwu also issued the "Ten Thousand International Purchasers Invitation Action Proposal".

A series of measures have achieved results. According to statistics, since this year, the number of permanent foreigners in Yiwu has returned to a high of 10000, an increase of about 20% over the first half of 2022. The number of foreign businessmen who have entered Italy temporarily has also exceeded 12400.

According to feedback from some business operators, during the epidemic prevention and control period, some overseas merchants once went to Vietnam, India and other places to purchase bags, but now these merchants have returned to Yiwu market in succession.

"Luggage products have a complete industrial chain in China. Bags with simple technology may be taken away by factories in Southeast Asia, but foreign customers still choose us for some bags with complex technology and high added value, which is our advantage. They (Southeast Asia) can't catch up for a while." Wu Chunbin, an operator, said that if you don't advance, you will fall back, Everyone is making progress in the process of development, and the supply chain will be more stable than that of others, whose products are of good quality, high price and sufficient creativity.

?? Sea freight price returns to good enterprises

In 2023, the shortage of transport capacity supporting the soaring sea freight rate has ended, and the sea freight price will gradually return to the normal level. This is good for both overseas purchasers and Yiwu luggage operators.

"Trolley box is a large 'parabolic' box. Each container can only hold 800~1000 finished products. Many customers' profits are 'eaten' by freight, so they can only raise the sales price and local consumers will pay the bill." The operator Su Yanlin told reporters that last October, the cost of each container for the route from Ningbo to South America was 8000~9000 dollars, because there was no profit, The customer was unwilling to pick up the goods and had to wait and see. This year, the situation has changed. From Ningbo to South America, the cost of each container has dropped to $2000~3000, while the price of Southeast Asia routes has dropped from the highest of more than $2000 to more than $600 or even lower, basically returning to the pre epidemic state.

Now, in order to load more trolley cases into containers, customers have divided the trolley cases into 12 sets, which are more than half smaller than the finished products. Each standard container can hold 5000 trolley case kits. Su Yanlin told the reporter that the semi-finished trolley cases were shipped to South American countries for assembly and processing by local workers, and then sold on the market. In this way, the profits of buyers can be guaranteed, and consumers can also buy trolley cases at affordable prices.

The growth of orders has also stimulated the production of luggage factories. In the production workshop of Yiwu Yuehua bags, more than 200 workers are busy on five production lines. Every day, more than 4000 trolley cases can be produced here, but this progress is still too slow for enterprises, because the orders of enterprises have been scheduled to July this year.

"The number of orders is increasing. Our customers in Mexico used to have two cabinets, but this year there have been five to eight cabinets." Zhang Yongli, the head of the enterprise, said that facing the growth of orders, the enterprise spent tens of millions of yuan this year to buy three new production lines, which is expected to be officially produced in May. (Reporter Zou Tiran, Correspondent Wu Fengyu)

(Source: Workers Daily)