7th edition of YIWU fair KICKS OFF IN CHINA

ANIL KUMAR RAI, Consulate General of India in Shanghai, China, inaugurated India Pavilion during the 7th edition of Yiwu Imported Commodities Fair 2018 on May 6 along with Prashant Tripathi, Consul, CGI Shanghai. Rajesh Rawat, Joint Director, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH India) was also present during the inauguration ceremony.

The fair is being held at Yiwu International Expo Centre, China from May 6 - 9 as informed by Rakesh Kumar, Executive Director EPCH. Around 1000 companies are participating from over 80 countries like India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia, Russia, Poland, Pakistan, Germany and more. YIWU, a city in China, is known as “China Small – Commodity Market”.

For six consecutive years, Yiwu has topped China’s 100 top open markets list and was listed as “China’s civilized open market” for the successive years. It has been named as the banner of China’s market economy which offers a large variety of quality yet cheaper commodities. The city is famous for its small/medium commodity trade and vibrant market. Also, it is a regional tourist destination. Rakesh Kumar, ED EPCH further informed that looking at the versatility of the YIWU market, Council participated in the 7th edition of YIWU Imported Commodities Fair and organised India Pavilion with 49 member exporters and three master craftpersons.

The exporters are displaying a wide range of products which include woodware, fashion jewellery and accessories, metal crafts, home furnishing, natural fibres, aggarbattis, home décor etc. Three master craft persons from Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Saharanpur U.P. will be giving live demonstrations on ‘Kalamkari Painting’, Shawl embroidery and wood carving crafts respectively. Kumar further elaborated that an MOU was signed between EPCH and China Council for the promotion of International Trade and strengthen the friendship between connected people in two countries. EPCH – an apex body for promotion and export of handicrafts products from India to the world markets – has made an integrated and comprehensive policy which revolves around the development of new product lines, new designs, improvement in technology and aggressive marketing as well as the exploration of new markets.