Handmade Turkish accessories, Ceylon Tea from Sri Lankan, craft beer brewed in Belgium – all these were among the nearly 10,000 special local products from 40 countries and regions exhibited and sold at the CIIE Commodity Bazaar in Shanghai.

Opened on April 30, the bazaar is China's first retail activity featuring CIIE exhibited products and the charm of different countries' cultures. 

The CIIE Commodity Bazaar is a part of the second 5-5 shopping festival kicked off in Shanghai on May Day. It debuted last year as the COVID-19 pandemic waned in China to spur consumer purchases by introducing new products, subsidies and activities.

The bazaar includes 16 national booths run by countries such as Argentina, Belgium, Mexico, Sri Lankan and Turkey. During the May Day holiday, tourists from around China flocked to it, even lining up in front of some popular national booths.  

At the CIIE Commodity Bazaar, soaps made with traditional Syrian techniques that date back thousands of years were sold at a fifty-five percent discount. Makeup boxes decorated with World Intangible Cultural Heritage "Damascus paintings" made their debut and high quality Argentine leatherware brought the Chinese market into step with Argentina's. 

At the Mexican booth, a bottle of the faddish coffee-flavored Tequila liquor was sold every 20 seconds on average during the rush hours. The sales volume of high value items also grew vigorously. A tourist from East China's Shandong province ordered two handmade watches worth 5,580 yuan ($ 869.73) each at one go.

As for Iran, wool tapestries were the absolute star products. The tapestries were sold immediately after being hung out at the booth. And hundreds of jars of saffron were sold out in just a few minutes.

Chinese consumers' enthusiasm for buying CIIE commodities inspired the overseas merchants to be more competitive. They actively presented their products to consumers, striving to be No 1 in sales.

Thanks to the hot sales of CIIE commodities, some popular national booths achieved as many sales from May 1 to 3 as they normally do in a month.  

Samuel Maldonado, the chief representative of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce's Asian-Pacific branch said that the sales of Mexican goods surged by 70 percent year-on-year in the first few days of the bazaar. "It was really exciting to follow the daily sales rankings. I couldn't go to sleep until I saw the updated rankings every night," he added. 

At the Turkish booth, a bracelet decorated with an acrylic blue eye, which means happiness, was in high demand. Sales staff had to refresh the booth's inventory every day.

It's reported that Turkey will bring more new products to this year's CIIE. The commodities expected to be exhibited at the fourth CIIE such as necklaces, earrings and bracelets were sold at the bazaar and on one day alone generated more than 30,000 yuan.

By noon of May 4, the national booths of Turkey, Syria and Argentina had all broken sales record, with sales reaching nearly 100,000 yuan.

Besides discount purchasing of different countries' specialties, over 20 themed activities could be seen at the bazaar, such as a national culture clock-in event, a handicraft workshop, an international beer party and a cyber celebrity live broadcast promoting goods.

Source: Shanghai Morning Post