The Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center, which opened officially on October 14, 2025, has maintained exceptionally strong market momentum with more than 130,000 visitors on its opening day alone and an average of 71,000 global buyers daily over the following 11 days. This surge of international business activity represents a significant shift in global trade patterns and demonstrates China's evolving role in the digital economy.
The economic impact has extended well beyond the trade center itself, creating a ripple effect throughout the local business ecosystem. Hotel rooms within one kilometer of the facility have been fully booked every night for two straight weeks, requiring reservations at least one week in advance. Restaurants offering international cuisines have experienced what they describe as a table turnover frenzy, with dinner turnover rates doubling from 1.5 to over 3 times per night as buyers conduct business negotiations during meals.
This bustling activity reflects Yiwu's broader foreign trade growth, with total import and export value reaching RMB 631.2 billion from January to September 2025, representing a 26.3% year-on-year increase. Trade with Belt and Road partner countries rose 28.9%, accounting for 68% of the city's total trade volume. The center operates on a dual-engine model of digital plus trade that is reshaping international business ecosystems through technological innovation.
The technological infrastructure supporting this transformation includes the World Yiwu Trade Large Model, which had registered over 30,000 users by October 2025 with AI product usage surpassing one billion calls. Thirteen AI applications now support end-to-end digitalization across design, translation, fulfillment, and other critical trade functions. This intelligent digitalization enables buyers and sellers to achieve truly borderless, real-time global trade.
The consecutive hosting of major trade fairs has further amplified the center's impact. The 138th Canton Fair attracted nearly 240,000 overseas buyers from 223 countries and regions, with 65% visiting Yiwu for the first time and shifting from sample viewing at the Canton Fair to placing orders in Yiwu. Transaction activity has been particularly strong in jewelry and accessories, fashion collectibles, drones, and cosmetics sectors.
Among the market's eight key industries, jewelry and accessories, creative trendy toys, drones and smart electronics, and beauty and personal care products have emerged as the main drivers of order growth. From January to September 2025, Yiwu's exports of mechanical and electrical products reached RMB 203 billion, up 25.2% year-on-year, with particularly strong performance in the smart devices sector. Individual success stories include a post-2000s entrepreneur receiving an on-site order for 3,000 drones from a Jordanian client and several jewelry and cosmetics merchants securing overseas orders exceeding RMB 500,000 within their first week of opening.
The Global Digital Trade Center represents not just physical expansion but a comprehensive upgrade in trade philosophy and operational models. Anchored by the Digital Trade Port, it integrates platforms for AI design, smart logistics, cross-border livestreaming, and data transactions, building a digital trade system driven by end-to-end perception, intelligent decision-making, and ecosystem collaboration. This evolution aligns with the optimization of Yiwu's foreign trade structure, where exports under the market procurement trade model reached RMB 458.38 billion from January to September 2025, up 29.4% year-on-year and accounting for 82.7% of the city's total exports.
The continued popularity of the Global Digital Trade Center demonstrates Yiwu's powerful ability to attract and convert global business opportunities, signaling that the city's path to global expansion is becoming more precise, efficient, and competitive through digital empowerment. As Yiwu transforms from the World's Supermarket into the Global Source of Digital Trade Innovation, it serves not only as a hub for global order exchange but also as a source of innovative trade models, continuously providing what industry observers call the Yiwu Sample for China's high-quality trade development.
