Chapter 36 How big is Yiwu?

In December 1995, Binwang Market, the fifth-generation market in Yiwu Small Commodity City, officially opened. With colorful flags fluttering and gongs and drums blaring, relevant officials of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, leaders of some departments in Zhejiang Province and managers of important domestic small commodity markets came to congratulate. Standing on the top of the 20-storey building overlooking Yiwu, you can see tens of thousands of small commodity stalls walking like snakes and dragons. The heat wave went straight to the heavens. In addition to being amazed and envious, the old question was brought up again:

"How big is this market?" In the face of leading figures in the domestic market, the then secretary of the Yiwu Municipal Party Committee (Yiwu had been withdrawn from the county in 1988 and established as a city), Gao Wen felt that it was time to talk about the "maximum view" of Yiwu people. "The area of ​​the Yiwu market is 500,000 square meters." This is a national record, and everyone present knows it. "The small commodity market is surrounded by an industrial area of ​​20 square kilometers, and the outer periphery is a production base composed of more than 150 "one village, one product" professional processing villages. At present, there are more than 4,000 large and small factories there. The small commodity market 20% of the products sold are produced by them.”

Oh, people's eyes are a little longer. In the distance, the roar of machinery seems to be coming from the land under the sun. "In addition to the parts that you can see now, Yiwu Small Commodity Market currently has 13 sub-markets in various parts of the country. The northernmost is Heihe Market, and the southernmost is in Hainan. Their annual turnover is about 8 billion yuan, accounting for more than 70%. The small commodities are shipped from Yiwu." Yan Gaowen continued calmly.He knew that for the distinguished guests present today, there was nothing more shocking than these dry numbers. Sure enough, he heard a burst of exclamation.

In the hustle and bustle of the atmosphere, the conversation that day actually only went so far. After all, it was not the best occasion to discuss issues. However, in the eyes of Yan Gaowen and Yiwu people, Yiwu is far more than that big. In practice in recent years, farmers in Yiwu have explored a whole new set of market ideas.The real secret of their marketing is not that they have built such a beautiful market shell and used many preferential policies, but that they have done a good job in a deeper market. Today, a series of factor market systems matching the small commodity market have begun to take shape:

The circulation of commodities in the information market is, in a certain sense, the circulation of information. Whoever takes the initiative in the exchange of information will ultimately have the initiative in the market. In October 1993, a unique company signboard was hung in the small commodity market: China Commodity City Information Co., Ltd.Relying on this company, a "Small Commodity World News" came into being.Now this withdrawal paper is published three times a week, with more than 50,000 copies issued, and has become a sought-after "information commodity" in the market. At the beginning of 1994, with the efforts of the information company, Yiwu Small Commodity Market realized information networking with the country's largest 39 wholesale markets and 1,200 small commodity markets.Through this information network, the price fluctuations and market conditions in the Yiwu market have now affected major domestic markets and become a barometer of the circulation of small commodities across the country.

Joint consignment market - Whether the transportation is convenient or not is an important prerequisite for the development of a local market.At present, Yiwu has opened special transportation lines to 127 cities across the country, with an average of 2,000 tons of goods delivered every day. The convenient and developed transportation network has greatly shortened the distance between Yiwu and markets across the country. Small Commodity Technology Market——In the past two years, Yiwu has held nearly ten exhibitions of small commodity technology achievements, foreign new technologies, and new patents, attracting manufacturers and merchants from all over the country. Quotes.

Since 1995, Yiwu Market has held the "China Small Commodity Famous and Special Products Exhibition" every year. This exhibition has become the most important gathering of China's small commodity industry. Financial market——In the small commodity market, a relatively complete service network of settlement, exchange, deposit and loan has been initially formed.At present, there are 29 financial institutions in the market, and its density is rare in China.For the convenience of merchants, the Small Commodity Market has established exchange business with 35 prefectures and cities across the country. In 1996, the Yiwu market's capital throughput was 28 billion yuan, and the annual net return of funds was 2.3 billion yuan, accounting for one-third of the province's total. In 1997, Yiwu became the first pilot site in Zhejiang Province to try bank cashier's check business.

In addition, factor markets such as real estate development, property rights transactions, and labor services have also been vigorously cultivated. As described by some experts, in today's Yiwu Small Commodity Market, in addition to the bustling "merchant flow" and the "commodity flow" worth tens of billions of yuan, there are also invisible "information flow" and "capital flow" , "Technology flow"... The weaving of this invisible but larger market network has given important support to the walled "China's No. 1 Bazaar".The formation of the market pattern of stars and moons has brought "China's No. 1 Bazaar" into a new era of prosperity.

"The bigger the market, the better", "The advanced nature of the market is first reflected in the development and maturity of the supporting factor market", "Market skills are outside the market"... These novel and advanced new market awareness are the results of Yiwu people's practice. I realized it bit by bit.Today's farmers in Yiwu have discovered that what they need to surpass is not others, but themselves.