Yiwu, a county-level city in East China's Zhejiang province, secured 312.95 billion yuan ($48.44 billion) worth of imports and exports, accounting for 9.3 percent of the provincial total, in the turbulent year of 2020, up 5.4 percent from the previous year, according to the latest statistics from Yiwu Customs.

In 2020, Yiwu's exports rose by 4.8 percent year-on-year to 300.62 billion yuan, making up 11.9 percent of the provincial total, while its imports surged 23.4 percent year-on-year to 12.33 billion yuan, occupying 1.4 percent of the provincial total.

Consumption goods made up 87.3 percent of the city's imports last year. It is noteworthy that the imports of cosmetics and toiletries skyrocketed by 199.1 percent to 1.87 billion yuan.

Machinery and electronic products accounted for 38 percent of the city's exports and saw a 16.8-percent uptick last year.

The city's mainstream exportation mode, "market procurement trade", is one in which eligible business operators buy goods with a single declaration value of up to $150,000 in market cluster areas recognized by commerce authorities and undergo export goods' clearance procedures at the point of purchase.

The city's exports in the mode of market procurement trade were valued at 222.15 billion yuan in 2020, making up 73.9 percent of the total exports, down 4.4 percent from the previous year. In the same period, the general trade mode and the bonded logistics mode respectively contributed 74.86 billion yuan and 2.55 billion yuan worth of exports, soaring by 46.9 percent and 96.1 percent year-on-year.

In 2020, Yiwu's annual trade volume with ASEAN, the United States, the European Union, South Korea, and Japan respectively grew by 16.9 percent, 65.8 percent, 6.1 percent, 107.4 percent, and 113.7 percent year-on-year to 35.21 billion yuan, 29.43 billion yuan, 28.88 billion yuan, 5.58 billion yuan, and 4.32 billion yuan.

The cargo route linking Yiwu with Europe via Xinjiang in Northwest China handled 1,399 China-Europe freight trains in 2020, soaring by 165 percent year-on-year. The total value of cargo was 20.6 billion yuan, up 96.7 percent from the previous year.