The Yiwu office, under the Customs of Jinhua City, was established by the General Administration of Customs of China to facilitate customs procedures related to small commodity imports and exports.

With more than 20 years of experience in small commodities trading, Yiwu exports more than US$1.2 billion worth of small commodities annually, of which US$240 million worth consist of locally-manufactured small commodities, according to the city statistics bureau.

More than 18,000 overseas business people came to Yiwu to purchase commodities in the first eight months of this year.

At present, Yiwu has more than 100 permanent foreign trade agencies, with over 3,000 foreign businessmen.

(Xinhua News Agency October 19, 2002)