Yiwu is a year-round wholesale city, not a twice-a-year fair. The Yiwu International Trade City (Futian Market) packs 75,000+ shops of small commodities — toys, hardware, jewelry, stationery, textiles — into five districts you can walk any working day. It shines when you need low minimum order quantities (MOQ) and a wide, mix-and-match cart. This guide covers the district map, hours, how to get there, and how Yiwu differs from the Canton Fair.
What Yiwu actually is
Yiwu is a city in Zhejiang province, about two hours south of Shanghai. Its centrepiece is the Yiwu International Trade City, also called Futian Market — inaugurated on 22 October 2002 and now spanning roughly 5.5 million m² with over 75,000 stores across five districts, according to Wikipedia. It is widely described as the largest small-commodity wholesale market in the world.
The mental model that matters: Yiwu is a permanent market of sellers — wholesalers, distributors, and small factories — not a curated exhibition of large exporters. Booths are tiny showrooms; you walk aisle after aisle, point at samples, and negotiate. Most shops carry stock and can arrange small orders, which is why Yiwu is the go-to for e-commerce sellers, gift shops, and market traders who need variety over volume.
The 5 districts of the Yiwu International Trade City
Each district is a huge multi-floor building organised by product family. Knowing which district holds your category saves you a full day of aimless walking. The breakdown below follows Wikipedia and the district map published by Golden Shiny.
| District | Opened | Main product categories |
|---|---|---|
| District 1 | 2002 | Toys, artificial flowers, jewelry, hair & flower accessories, festival/wedding crafts, porcelain, crystals, photo frames |
| District 2 | 2004 | Bags, suitcases, umbrellas; hardware, tools, locks; kitchen & bath, home appliances, electronics, watches; auto parts |
| District 3 | 2005 | Buttons, zippers, cosmetics, glasses, pens, paper, office supplies, sporting goods, arts & crafts |
| District 4 | — | Daily textiles: socks, knitwear, footwear, belts, scarves, towels, gloves, underwear |
| District 5 | 2011 | Imported goods, bedding & fabrics, auto & motorcycle accessories, hotel/festival supplies, e-commerce services |
Within a district, floors are themed too. In District 2, for example, floor 1 is bags and umbrellas, floor 2 is hardware and tools, floor 3 is kitchen, bath and electronics. Grab a printed floor map at the entrance or photograph the directory board before you dive in.
Opening hours and seasons
The market runs on a predictable weekly rhythm, but the calendar has two traps worth planning around.
- Daily hours: roughly 9:00–17:00, Monday to Saturday, with shops most fully staffed between 10:00 and 16:00. The market is generally closed on Sundays except during peak holiday weeks. Hours can run slightly later in summer. See Golden Shiny's hours guide.
- Chinese New Year: the whole market shuts for the Lunar New Year. In 2026 it is fully closed roughly 13–28 February (Golden Shiny CNY notice). Avoid the two weeks either side — shops wind down before and restock slowly after.
- National Day (early October) can also thin out staffing even if the halls stay open.
Plan at least two full days for a focused category, more if you are covering several districts.
How to get to Yiwu
Yiwu has its own high-speed rail station on the Shanghai–Kunming line, so you rarely need to fly domestically.
- From Shanghai: bullet trains from Shanghai Hongqiao to Yiwu cover ~270 km in about 1.5 to 2 hours, with dozens of departures a day (China Highlights).
- From Hangzhou: high-speed trains take roughly 35 to 75 minutes, with 40+ trains daily (Travel China Guide). Hangzhou also has the nearest major international airport.
From Yiwu station, the market is a short taxi or ride-hail trip. Most sourcing hotels cluster near District 1–2 and run shuttle buses to the halls.
Yiwu vs the Canton Fair
Both are China sourcing pillars, but they solve different problems. The Canton Fair is a biannual trade fair (spring and autumn) of large manufacturers and export-oriented factories; Yiwu is a permanent wholesale market of small commodities. See our Canton Fair 2026 guide for the fair side of the equation.
| Yiwu market | Canton Fair | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Year-round, open most days | Twice a year, spring & autumn |
| Sellers | Wholesalers, distributors, small factories | Large manufacturers & export trading companies |
| Products | Small everyday commodities, huge variety | Factory goods: electronics, machinery, custom OEM |
| MOQ | Low — often a few cartons to a few hundred units | Higher, especially for custom/branded goods |
| Best for | E-commerce, gift shops, mixed-container buyers | Factory relationships, OEM/private label, volume |
The MOQ and format contrast is the crux: Yiwu is generally lower-MOQ and cheaper per unit, at the possible cost of packaging, documentation, or consistency, while Canton Fair suppliers lean export-ready (Sino Shipping, Golden Shiny). Many seasoned importers do both: Yiwu to fill a mixed container fast, Canton Fair to build factory relationships for a hero product.
Payment, logistics, and agents
Agents. Almost no Yiwu shopkeeper speaks fluent English or handles export paperwork. A local buying/sourcing agent (commission-based, typically a few percent of order value) translates, negotiates, consolidates orders from dozens of booths into one shipment, inspects goods, and handles export. For anything beyond a single booth, an agent pays for itself.
Consolidation & warehousing. You will buy from many shops. Goods are delivered to an agent's or forwarder's warehouse, quality-checked, then consolidated and packed. Because you are mixing hundreds of small SKUs, your load fills a shipping container irregularly — plan the CBM (cubic metres) carefully so you neither waste space nor overbook. Run the numbers with our CBM / container-fill calculator.
Incoterms & landed cost. Prices quoted in the booth are ex-works stall prices — they exclude freight, insurance, and duty. Agree an Incoterm (FOB, free on board, is common: the seller delivers to the port) and compute your true landed cost — unit price + freight + duty + agent commission + fees — before you commit. Our landed-cost calculator does the breakdown.
Payment. Domestic settlement in Yiwu is often cash or Chinese mobile payment at the booth, with agents handling the international side. Never wire large sums to an unknown personal account; route payments through your agent or a verified company account.
Practical tips from the floor
- Photograph everything at the booth — the sample, the quoted price, the MOQ, and the shop's card or WeChat QR. The same keychain appears in 20 booths at 20 prices; without structured notes you cannot compare later.
- Negotiate on volume and cash, but respect that Yiwu margins are already thin — this is a wholesale market, not a bazaar.
- Set a reference currency and convert every quote on the spot, so you are comparing like with like across shops.
- Do your triage each evening at the hotel while memory is fresh: kill the no-price and no-supplier captures, merge duplicates.
FAQ
Is Yiwu market open all year?
Yes. Unlike the Canton Fair, Yiwu International Trade City operates year-round, roughly 9:00–17:00 Monday to Saturday and closed Sundays. The one big exception is Chinese New Year, when the entire market shuts for about two weeks — in 2026, roughly 13–28 February. Avoid the fortnight either side, when shops wind down and restock slowly.
Do I need an agent to buy at Yiwu?
For a single booth, no. For a real sourcing trip across multiple shops, effectively yes. Shopkeepers rarely speak English or handle export paperwork, and you will be consolidating dozens of small orders into one shipment. A commission-based agent (a few percent) covers translation, negotiation, quality checks, consolidation, and export logistics.
What is the minimum order quantity at Yiwu?
Low by China standards — often a few cartons or a few dozen to a few hundred units per item, versus the higher MOQs typical at the Canton Fair. That low threshold is exactly why e-commerce sellers and gift shops favour Yiwu: you can build a varied, mixed container without committing to factory-scale runs on each SKU.
Yiwu or the Canton Fair — which should I choose?
Choose Yiwu for small everyday commodities, low MOQs, and a mix-and-match container you can source any week. Choose the Canton Fair for factory relationships, OEM/private-label production, electronics, and machinery at volume. Many importers use both. See our Canton Fair 2026 guide to plan the fair side.
How do I get from Shanghai to Yiwu?
Take a high-speed train from Shanghai Hongqiao to Yiwu station: about 1.5 to 2 hours over ~270 km, with dozens of daily departures. From Hangzhou it is even quicker, roughly 35 to 75 minutes. From Yiwu station, the International Trade City is a short taxi ride, and many sourcing hotels run shuttles to the halls.
Turn a Yiwu walk into a real order
Yiwu's strength — endless variety across 75,000 booths — is also its trap: the same product at a dozen prices, easy to photograph, impossible to compare from memory. Fairloop was built for this: capture each product in under 15 seconds (photo, quoted price, MOQ, supplier), offline, then compare, compute container fill and landed cost, and generate a purchase order back at the hotel. See pricing — 99 USD/year, 24-hour free trial.