A foreign purchasing agent places orders in a toy shop in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province, on August 25, 2022. Known as the world's small commodity hub, Yiwu has its export peak season in August. Photo: VCG

The third charter flight carrying foreign traders to Yiwu, the global small commodity center, in East China's Zhejiang Province, arrived in Hangzhou airport from Seoul, South Korea on Sunday, following the first charter flight from Pakistan and the second from India, sources confirmed with the Global Times.

This is also the first charter flight to land after a local clustered COVID-19 outbreak in the city was put under control. The charter flight is the latest proof of Yiwu's trade vitality. A total of 163 South Korean passengers arrived in China on the charter flight, HU454, operated by Hainan Airlines. 

According to the president of the Yiwu Korean Chamber of Commerce, the charter flight mainly carried purchasers and small- and medium-sized business operators returning to Yiwu from South Korea. 

"The travel convenience has been improved and their travel costs have been reduced, which has made foreign businesses in Yiwu more confident in putting down roots and developing," the president was quoted by Yiwu local government's official WeChat account as saying.

While South Korean traders just arrived, Pakistani and Indian traders, who arrived on the first two charter flights and finished their epidemic quarantine, have already started their "shopping," after Yiwu saw a total resumption of business.

A Yiwu-based logistics agent told the Global Times on Sunday that the first shipment of five containers to New Dehli, which were purchased by Indian traders coming through the chartered flight, was delivered on Friday, worth about $3.5 million.

"The shipment is expected to arrive in India in early September. Our Indian customers are rushing to deliver the products to the market," the agent said.

Sameem, an Indian trader who has been doing business in Yiwu for more than 10 years, revealed that he intended to buy more than $10 million worth of kitchen supplies and groceries this time, and has brought more than 10 Indian friends with him on the charter flight, a source said.

He was among the 107 Indian businessmen who arrived in Hangzhou on August 9. Another 163 Pakistani businessmen arrived in Yiwu on July 30.

On Wednesday, when Yiwu entered a stage of normalized epidemic control, the first batch of 49 foreign traders entered the Yiwu International Trade Market to meet their business partners and check the products they intended to buy in person.

So far, more than 1,000 foreign purchasers have been buying goods every day at Yiwu International Trade Market since it resumed operation on August 18.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, more than 560,000 foreign businessmen visited Yiwu every year.

Trade-related industries have also quickly resumed in the trade hub.

The express delivery industry has fully recovered, with daily deliveries reaching more than 30 million items. The operators of the five logistics parks are 100 percent back to work, with a daily cargo throughput of more than 40,000 tons, and all market entities have resumed business, sources based in Yiwu told the Global Times on Sunday.

At present, all 32 e-commerce parks and 114 key e-commerce enterprises in Yiwu have resumed work and production.