The exhibition hall of the 26th China Yiwu International Commodities (Standards) Fair is held in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, on Oct 21-25. XIAO DA/CHINA DAILY

The 26th China Yiwu International Commodities (Standards) Fair is expected to foster a new dual-cycle development pattern with domestic and international trade reinforcing each other, said a top Yiwu official.

Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang province, dubbed the "world's supermarket", is looking to boost dual-cycle development through the organization of a commodities fair.

The Yiwu Fair, which ran on Oct 21-25, is one of the three biggest export fairs sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce, according to the local government.

With a display of goods in 10 major categories, including electronic products, daily necessities, sports equipment and textile products, this year's fair featured more than 3,400 booths in Yiwu International Expo Center with a total exhibition area of 100,000 square meters, said Ge Qiaodi, deputy mayor of Yiwu.

"The Yiwu fair is the first online and offline large-scale comprehensive foreign trade exhibition in China under the circumstances of COVID-19 prevention and control," said the deputy mayor. He added that attendees were required to go through real-name registration and facial recognition before entering the expo center.

To date, the Yiwu fair has attracted 1,600 foreign merchants from overseas trade institutions and representative offices stationed in China; 1,800 buyers from domestic department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and professional market; as well as nearly 2,000 enterprises nationwide.

In addition, the organizer held online trade matchmaking conferences for companies from home and abroad, in a bid to help them build an online exhibition platform and increase orders.

"Through the trade matchmaking conferences, domestic exhibitors can have online negotiation with merchants from foreign countries and regions, such as Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Chile, improving the effectiveness of trade and promoting the dual-cycle of domestic and foreign trade," said Yang Zhonghong, director of the Yiwu commerce bureau. Furthermore, livestreaming rooms were available for exhibitors, enabling them to carry out online trade negotiations.

Livestreaming, an increasingly popular tool in China's digital marketing landscape, has been propelling more enterprises to change their traditional sales model.

This is especially so amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the global economy this year.

Chen Yanzhen, a manager at a hardware export company, was among them. In the expo center, sporting the latest scissors her company had designed, Chen looked into a camera and told viewers: "At this fair, I will show you our latest scissors which are convenient and sharp."

"I began preparing for the new products' research and development several months ahead of the fair. Furthermore, I invested nearly 500,000 yuan ($74,835) into the livestreaming activities on new media platforms in the first half of this year," said Chen. She added that the Yiwu fair was a golden opportunity to resume foreign trade, expand the domestic market and seek new clients amid the pandemic.

Visitors observe optical instruments during the event. XIAO DA/CHINA DAILY

One notable feature of this year's Yiwu fair is that the element of "standard" (as in a quality-related benchmark or specification) has become more prominent in the 26-year-old event.

In front of many exhibition booths, name boards have "standards" emblazoned on them, to suggest that the exhibitor has either implemented or participated in meeting globally recognized product standards. The idea is to let buyers from around the world have a direct knowledge of the quality and technical specifications of their products. More than 1,500 exhibition booths were emblazoned "standards" this year, covering the 10 major goods categories exhibited at the fair.

"The standards' setting is indispensable for enterprises to ensure the quality of their products, decrease risks and promote their innovative development," said an official of Yiwu Municipal market regulation bureau.

Moreover, the fair established a "standards"-themed pavilion. It included a "Zhejiang Made" exhibition area and cosmetic exhibition area, attracting 60 enterprises from home and abroad.

Online celebrities and hosts were invited by the organizer to promote the "Zhejiang Made" exhibition area and the exhibitors' products on livestreaming platforms, such as Douyin, domestic wholesale site 1688.com and Chinagoods, a platform launched by Yiwu-based Zhejiang China Commodities City Group.

In order to expand the influence of this year's fair, the organizer invited 12 foreign internet influencers to launch overseas online promotions. The influencers, with more than 70,000 followers each in the United States, Europe and Africa, promoted the Yiwu fair in English, Spanish and Arabic on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.