Yiwu 1039 Market Purchase Trade Mode
Yiwu 1039 Market Purchase Trade Mode: A Game-Changer for China’s Small Commodity Export and Foreign Trade Growth
On April 9th, at the customs supervision site of Yiwu Port, a container truck loaded with small commodities slowly set off. This shipment, exported through the market purchase trade mode (customs supervision code: 1039 mode), was declared by Yiwu Hongcheng Customs Brokerage Co., Ltd. through the “Single Window” for international trade. After completing customs clearance procedures at Yiwu Customs, it was about to be sent to Ningbo Zhoushan Port for loading, embarking on its transoceanic journey. This ordinary container shipment is not only a vivid reflection of Yiwu’s small commodity export vitality but also a microcosm of the innovative practice of the 1039 market purchase trade mode, which has reshaped China’s foreign trade pattern for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
As a pioneering initiative of Yiwu’s “from nothing to something” development philosophy, the 1039 market purchase trade mode is a core achievement of Yiwu’s comprehensive international trade reform and a key part of the “Yiwu Development Experience” in the field of trade. Unlike the traditional “one container, one order” shipping method in the past, the 1039 mode realizes efficient assembly of “LCL (Less than Container Load) export”, solving the pain points of small commodity export and becoming a powerful engine for China’s foreign trade to stabilize growth. Today, this model has been replicated and promoted in 39 professional markets across the country, benefiting countless SMEs and becoming an important national measure to stabilize foreign trade, allowing more containers full of “Made in China” to sail to the world.
What is Yiwu 1039 Market Purchase Trade Mode? Definition and Core Characteristics
To understand the profound impact of the 1039 market purchase trade mode, we first need to clarify its definition and core characteristics. The market purchase trade mode refers to a trade mode in which eligible operators purchase goods in market agglomeration areas recognized by the national competent commercial department, with a single customs declaration value not exceeding 150,000 US dollars (inclusive), and complete export customs clearance procedures at the place of purchase. This mode is specifically designed for the characteristics of small commodities, which are diverse in variety, frequent in transactions, and small in single order volume, filling the gap in the export supervision system for small-batch and multi-variety goods.
The birth and development of the 1039 mode is a process of continuous exploration and institutional innovation. As early as March 2011, the State Council approved the “Overall Plan for the Pilot Comprehensive International Trade Reform in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province”, and Yiwu officially launched the exploration of this mode. In April 2013, eight ministries and commissions including the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued a document, officially approving Yiwu to pilot the market purchase trade mode. On November 2014, the first market purchase trade customs declaration form in China was born in Yiwu, marking the official landing of this innovative mode and opening a new chapter for Yiwu’s foreign trade development.
A historically significant photo freezes this moment: He Wenshuai, a staff member of Yiwu Customs, holds the first customs declaration form in the country with a focused expression. “My hands were trembling slightly at that time,” she recalled years later, still unable to hide her excitement. What made her even more delighted was that only one year after the implementation of the mode, Yiwu’s export volume exceeded 170 billion yuan, showing an explosive growth momentum. This growth momentum has continued to this day, becoming a vivid practice of China’s foreign trade system innovation.
Institutional Innovation Drives Explosive Growth: Data Speaks for the Strength of 1039 Mode
Over the past decade, the institutional dividend of the 1039 market purchase trade mode has been continuously released, driving Yiwu’s foreign trade export to maintain a high-speed growth trend, and even achieving “explosive growth” in the face of complex international economic situations. According to official data, in 2025, Yiwu’s total export volume reached 730.70 billion yuan, of which the export volume through the market purchase trade mode was 600.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.4%. The scale accounted for 70.7% of the national share, continuing to lead the country, and strongly supporting “Made in China” to efficiently reach 233 countries and regions around the world.
This data is not an accident, but the inevitable result of the 1039 mode’s precise adaptation to market demand. For a long time, small commodities in Yiwu have been characterized by “small batches, multiple varieties, and fast turnover”, which is difficult to adapt to the traditional export supervision mode. The 1039 mode has broken through the constraints of the traditional mode, allowing SMEs to flexibly carry out export business, and greatly reducing the threshold and cost of export. With the development of new foreign trade formats, the 1039 mode has gradually transformed from traditional offline transactions to the integration of online and offline, and has achieved in-depth coordination with emerging logistics and trade channels such as cross-border e-commerce, Zhejiang China-Europe Railway Express (Yixinou), international mail routes, and air freight, forming a multi-channel, all-round export pattern.
The integration of the 1039 mode with cross-border e-commerce has become a new growth point. By combining the advantages of the 1039 mode’s simplified declaration and convenient customs clearance with the online drainage and order acquisition advantages of cross-border e-commerce platforms, Yiwu merchants can better connect with global buyers, realize “online order acquisition and offline delivery”, and improve the efficiency and competitiveness of export. At the same time, the connection with the China-Europe Railway Express (Yixinou) has shortened the transportation time between Yiwu and European markets, reduced transportation costs, and made Yiwu’s small commodities more competitive in the European market.
LCL Export: One Container Can Hold Hundreds of Goods, Solving the Pain Points of SMEs
Yiwu’s SMEs and foreign-funded entities are the deepest participants, witnesses, and beneficiaries of the 1039 market purchase trade mode, and their sense of gain is the most intuitive. For these enterprises, the biggest pain point in the past was the difficulty in LCL export of small commodities. To save inspection and customs clearance costs and improve the space utilization rate of containers, enterprises often “mix” a variety of goods into the same container. Although this method reduces costs to a certain extent, it brings great challenges to the supervision work of customs, inspection and quarantine, taxation and other departments.
The implementation of the 1039 market purchase trade mode has completely solved this pain point. According to Chen Huaxiao, the person in charge of Yiwu Hongcheng Customs Brokerage Co., Ltd., a loyal “fan” of the mode, if the number of export commodity categories corresponding to the customs declaration form exceeds 5, enterprises can choose the simplified declaration method, and a single container can be loaded with dozens or even hundreds of kinds of goods. This measure greatly adapts to the characteristics of small commodity exports, such as complex varieties, frequent transactions, and many batches, and greatly improves the efficiency of small commodity export.
“We declare 80 shipments through the ‘Single Window’ for international trade every day, of which more than 50% adopt the market purchase trade mode. The enterprises entrusting agent declaration are mainly from Yiwu, Ningbo, Shanghai and other places, and the export destinations are Europe, South America and other regions,” Chen Huaxiao said. The most intuitive feeling of enterprises about the trade facilitation brought by the 1039 mode is that under the principle of “controllable risks, traceable sources, and accountable responsibilities”, the customs can implement the classified customs clearance reform, fully implement automated document review and release, and paperless customs declaration, realizing 24-hour all-weather release. Today, the customs clearance document operation of Yiwu small commodities has entered the “second era”, which greatly shortens the customs clearance time and improves the efficiency of goods circulation.
For foreign merchants who have long been rooted in Yiwu, the facilitation reform of market purchase trade is a real help in their daily operations. Nabil, a Moroccan businessman, is one of the beneficiaries. “My trade mode is ‘small orders with quick return and LCL shipment’,” Nabil said. He exports 8 to 10 containers of goods every month, all using the market purchase trade mode, and many foreign merchant friends around him also use this mode for customs declaration and export. The convenience of the 1039 mode has not only reduced the operating costs of foreign merchants but also accelerated the turnover of funds, making their business in Yiwu more smooth.
Continuous Deepening of Reform: The 1039 Mode Continues to Release Dividends
In the current context of new situations and new requirements for foreign trade development, the 1039 market purchase trade mode, with its flexibility and inclusiveness, is becoming an important force to consolidate the basic plate of foreign trade and cultivate new competitive advantages. To further give play to the role of the 1039 mode, the state and local governments have continuously introduced supportive policies to promote the deepening reform and upgrading of the mode.
In December 2024, the State Council approved the “Overall Plan for Deepening the Comprehensive International Trade Reform in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province”, which clearly proposed to deepen the reform of market purchase trade. In July 2025, with the approval of the General Administration of Customs, Hangzhou Customs issued 10 supporting service measures, the first of which focused on deepening the market purchase trade mode. It proposed to improve the market purchase trade mode, support the market purchase to adapt to the development of trade digitalization and multi-format integration, improve the local management of market purchase trade, encourage the implementation of the cargo organizer system, optimize the declaration management and daily monitoring of market purchase, and promote the high-quality development of market purchase. At the same time, it supports Yiwu to carry out the reform of market purchase export cosmetics and pilot the declaration and inspection of market purchase export cosmetics at the place of purchase.
“Reform is endless,” said He Wenshuai. “We will take practice as the standard, continuously iterate and upgrade the market purchase trade mode, coordinate the optimization of supervision and the improvement of services, work with enterprises to promote its healthy and sustainable development, and help more ‘Made in China’ go to the world efficiently and conveniently.” Under this guidance, Yiwu has continuously deepened the integrated innovation of market purchase trade. From “1039 + 0110” to “1039 + 1210”, the 1039 market purchase trade mode, as a core module, can be flexibly combined and superimposed with other supervision modes. Today, proficiently using the combination strategy of the 1039 mode has become a new “business classic” for Yiwu merchants to explore the international market.
The integrated innovation of the 1039 market purchase trade mode has effectively solved the institutional bottlenecks of small commodity exports in format integration and supervision adaptation, and provided a systematic solution for a large number of SMEs across the country to participate in international trade. For SMEs with limited scale and insufficient export experience, the 1039 mode has lowered the export threshold, simplified the export procedures, and allowed them to easily enter the international market with small batches of goods, realizing the dream of “going global”.
Global Promotion and Future Outlook: The 1039 Mode Becomes a Model for China’s Foreign Trade Innovation
As a successful practice of China’s foreign trade system innovation, the 1039 market purchase trade mode has not only achieved remarkable results in Yiwu but also been replicated and promoted in 39 professional markets across the country, including Guangzhou, Wenzhou, and Quanzhou. These markets, relying on their own industrial advantages, combined with the characteristics of the 1039 mode, have promoted the development of local small commodity exports and become an important support for local foreign trade growth. The replication and promotion of the 1039 mode have not only enriched China’s foreign trade supervision system but also provided a valuable reference for other countries and regions to carry out small commodity trade.
Looking to the future, with the in-depth advancement of trade digitalization and globalization, the 1039 market purchase trade mode will face new development opportunities and challenges. Yiwu will continue to take institutional innovation as the core, further optimize the service system of the 1039 mode, promote the integration of the mode with new formats such as cross-border e-commerce and digital trade, improve the efficiency and level of trade facilitation, and make the 1039 mode more adaptable to the needs of global market development. At the same time, Yiwu will also strengthen international cooperation, promote the 1039 mode to be more recognized by the international community, and help “Made in China” gain a greater voice in the global market.
In conclusion, the Yiwu 1039 market purchase trade mode is not only a major institutional innovation in China’s foreign trade field but also a powerful practice of the “Yiwu Development Experience”. It has solved the pain points of small commodity exports, supported the development of SMEs, and made important contributions to China’s foreign trade stability and growth. With the continuous deepening of reform and promotion, the 1039 mode will surely become a more important engine for China’s foreign trade development, helping more “Made in China” go to the world and shine in the global market.
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