A customer browses items inside a shop of stuffed toys on February 2, 2023 in the Yiwu International Trade City in East China's Zhejiang Province. Photo: cnsphoto

"I've been busy talking with customers on the phone and taking orders," the Global Times was told on Thursday by a manager of Yiwu LiTian Underwear which has a store in the Yiwu International Trade City together with 75,000 others.

The city, a major wholesale market complex in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang Province, reopened on Thursday after having closed for the Spring Festival holidays in late January.

"Orders this year are expected to be at least 10 percent higher than in 2022. At present, production has been scheduled to April. Following China's optimized anti-COVID management, more foreign customers will have the opportunity to come to China and place new orders," said the manager at Yiwu LiTian Underwear.

Such bustling life and hard work are visible among foreign traders in Yiwu, with their confidence being regained as they receive an influx of overseas orders. It's seen as a good start for the new year in the Chinese lunar calendar.

After China moved to reopen its borders on January 8, foreign customers have been busy applying for visas to visit China, and a large number of foreign buyers have entered the country, Yiwu-based businessmen told the Global Times.

The first day of the market reopening was busy with a lot of people coming, an umbrella trader surnamed Zhang told the Global Times on Thursday.

Zhang said that since the end of 2022, she has received a lot of phone calls from overseas customers, who want to come to see the goods on the spot.

"This is the first year after China lowered COVID-19 management from Class A to Class B. It is also a new start for us, with new hope and confidence," Zhang said.

For Li, a sales manager at a Yiwu-based artificial flower producer, it is important for customers to see the products in person.

"We received inquiries and bookings from foreign customers before the Spring Festival, as orders placed before the festival can make it in time for Valentine's Day on February 14. There are growing orders for bear dolls holding roses," said Li.

Xinxin Lanterns Import & Export Co, a producer of fancy lanterns based in Shangxi town in Yiwu, is busy with orders. The company's general manager surnamed Fu told the Global Times that its factories resumed production from Monday.

"Many customers have placed orders since mid-January and we started producing before the Spring Festival," said Fu, expecting that more orders will come after the reopening of Yiwu International Trade City.

Logistics providers are busy managing containers for shipping.

A manager named Jai at a logistics company focusing on the Indian market told the Global Times on Thursday that customers have already started ordering containers. Judging from the current situation, about eight containers are expected to be shipped next week.

"We have an office in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Goods are collected in Yiwu and Wenzhou, and shipped to Guangzhou by truck, and then shipped to India by sea, which will take about 15-20 days. It takes three to five days by air," said Jai.

A manager surnamed Chen from a Yiwu-based supply chain management company said that his firm delivered five to eight containers of Yiwu goods each week last month to Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and Europe.

"With the reopening of the International Trade City, more customers are expected to place orders. We are waiting for more bookings of containers. Currently, together with bookings made during the Spring Festival holidays, we have about five containers to deliver via sea and two by air," Chen told the Global Times.

Yiwu, the world's small commodities hub, is a trade barometer in China. Its foreign trade totaled 478.8 billion yuan ($72 billion) in 2022, up 22.7 percent year-on-year, according to data from Chinese customs.