YIWU, China, Dec. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Yiwugo.com, the official website of the Yiwu Commodity Market, which is the largest commodity wholesale market in the world, recently released the Search Term Popularity Index for Christmas Products between 2019 and 2021 (hereinafter, the "Yiwugo Christmas Index"). The Yiwugo Christmas Index indicates that, despite multiple negative factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the increasing raw material prices, and the surging shipment rates, the year-round supply of Christmas products in the Yiwu market has still recovered to 80% of that before the outbreak of the pandemic, with the dynamics of purchase and supply showing a normal trend.

Note:
1. The full-month data of December 2021 is estimated on the basis of the data between December 1 and 15.
2. The Chinese Lunar New Year is usually celebrated at the end of January or in early February, a period when the Yiwu market is closed.

Washington Post has stated publicly that the entire world depends on Yiwu for Christmas, and two thirds of the world’s Christmas products are from Yiwu, China. The Yiwugo Christmas Index reflects to a certain extent the global purchase and supply of Christmas products before and after the outbreak of the pandemic.

It can be seen from the above chart that the Yiwugo Christmas Index fluctuates greatly from July to September 2020, as compared with the monthly data for 2019. This is probably because the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic threw people into a panic, leading to significant fluctuations in the purchase and supply of Christmas products. Since October, the purchase of Christmas products has picked up, driving the year-round Yiwugo Christmas Index for 2020 up to 69.7% of that for 2019. The year-round Yiwugo Christmas Index for 2021 is 81.8% of that for 2019, showing obvious recovery as compared with 2020. In 2021, people no longer panic over the pandemic, and the dynamics of year-round purchase and supply are basically the same as those in 2019. Besides, it is worth noting that the supply of Christmas products in the Yiwu market in 2021 were also affected by negative factors such as the increasing raw material prices and the hovering shipment rates. Despite the combined impact of these irregular factors, the overall supply of Christmas products in the Yiwu market has still recovered to 80% of that before the outbreak of the pandemic, indicating the resilience of the Christmas product market in Yiwu.

This year, the smooth shipment of Christmas products from Yiwu to all around the world could not go without the steadfast persistence and active response of the suppliers in Yiwu. According to Chen Huijuan, a principal at Yiwu Junhong Christmas Costumes Gift Factory, the cost for raw materials used at her factory increased by 5%, but they did not increase the ex-factory prices by the same percentage for some of their regular customers — for whom the prices increased only by around 2% — and their new customers for whom the prices had been established. Zhu Guohua, owner of Huashuai Christmas Products Firm, said that the shipment rates increased drastically this year and containers were in extremely short supply. All these factors disrupted the delivery schedules and they had to organize delivery whenever possible, lasting till November. Qiu Xuemei, a principal at Dongyang Weijiule Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd., said, "For people in many countries around the world, Christmas is just as important as the Chinese Spring Festival. Despite all the difficulties, we will make sure they have a good time during the festival."