Trucks loaded with small commodities produced in Yiwu line up for customs clearance. [Photo/WeChat account: yiwuwaishi]

Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang province saw its foreign trade grow 22.7 percent year-on-year to 478.8 billion yuan ($70.58 billion) in 2022, statistics from Yiwu Customs show.

The city's exports rose by 18 percent year-on-year to 431.64 billion yuan, while its imports increased by 93.5 percent to 47.16 billion yuan last year.

The three increase rates are 9.6 percentage points, 4 percentage points and 82.8 percentage points higher than the provincial averages.

Less than container load (LCL) exports of small commodities made up the largest share of foreign trade in Yiwu.

As the weathervane of the world's small commodity trade, Yiwu has traded with more than 230 countries and regions, among which Africa is its largest export market. Yiwu also saw growth in trade with the European and American markets last year.

In 2022, Yiwu's trade with Africa amounted to 84.02 billion yuan, up 10.2 percent compared with 2022, while its trade with the EU and US were 60.45 billion yuan and 56.21 billion yuan, respectively, year-on-year increases of 47.1 percent and 35.5 percent.

Yiwu's imports and exports with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative totaled 183.33 billion yuan, up 13.3 percent from the year before last, and its trade with other RCEP members reached 77.61 billion yuan, a yearly increase of 14.3 percent.