Export Barometer Seeks Rebound
Wang Minfeng’s tools and hardware company in Yiwu, a city in Zhejiang Province, east China, is searching for ways to survive the economic impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Wang started the business even before the Yiwu International Trade City, the world’s largest small commodity trade hub with more than 70,000 tenants, was established in 2001, the year China joined the World Trade Organization. It survived the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in 2003 and the global financial crisis in 2008, but now he thinks neither compares to the havoc wreaked by COVID-19.
“We faced challenges from the domestic supply side at the beginning, and now, difficulties from the overseas demand side,” he sighed. “This year could be the hardest for foreign trade companies.”
Yiwu, a barometer for the health of
