Corporate News | A Strategic Alliance for a New Future in Cross-Border Trade: Aokofan Group Partners with Key Stakeholders to Deepen China-Japan Trade Cooperation

From 2024, Month 6 to 6, Month 21, Aocofan Group hosted a delegation from the Yiwu Municipal Government and Yiwu Merchandise City Group at its Tokyo showroom, Yiwu Selection. Following their tour of the showroom, key leaders including Jiang Tao, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Yiwu Municipal Committee; Chen Zhiming, Deputy Director of the Office of the CPC Yiwu Municipal Committee; Zhu Jianfu, Director of the Yiwu Education Bureau; Lou Jianming, Director of the Yiwu Justice Bureau; Huang Haiyang, Member of the Party Leadership Group of Zhejiang China Small Commodity City Group Co., Ltd.; and Yuan Ying, General Manager of China Small Commodity City Overseas Investment Development Co., Ltd., held an important strategic meeting with Takeaki Bu, Chairman of Aocofan Group Co., Ltd.; representatives from Aocofan (Hainan) Network Technology Co., Ltd.; and Liu Xiangyu, President of the Hainan Free Trade Port Japan Enterprise Cooperation Center.

This visit features a tightly scheduled and rich itinerary.To foster comprehensive and in-depth discussions on key issues in China-Japan trade cooperation, aiming to reach forward-looking and constructive consensus. This will provide strong support for expanding and deepening the China-Japan trade market and uncovering new business opportunities.

In 3 of this year, the Yiwu Japan Pavilion, a joint venture between Aocofan Group and Yiwu Mall Group, successfully opened in Tokyo. During the meeting, both parties engaged in in-depth discussions regarding the role and future prospects of the Yiwu Selection Tokyo Showroom. Leveraging its innovative service model, the showroom seamlessly integrates with the online Netsea and Netsea platforms.Effectively resolves long-standing challenges faced by Japanese buyers during the sourcing phase, overcomes language barriers and business model differences between sellers and buyers, significantly reduces procurement costs, and greatly enhances transaction efficiency and satisfaction.This initiative has earned high praise from numerous procurement businesses and garnered widespread attention and acclaim from commercial media.

(IJiang Tao, Deputy Secretary of the Yiwu Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, delivered a speech)

Deputy Secretary Jiang Tao of the CPC Yiwu Municipal Committee highlighted at the meeting that over 40 years of reform and opening-up, Yiwu has leveraged its industrial base, openness, and advantages of Zhejiang businessmen to become the "World's Supermarket," trading with countries and regions across the globe. In 2023, Yiwu's total import and export volume saw significant growth, with trade with Japan reaching nearly 13 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The previous year's Zhejiang-Yiwu-Japan Industry Economic Exchange Forum was well-received by Japanese enterprises, and this year, the President of the Japan DIY Association also visited Yiwu for an inspection.Yiwu is rapidly advancing its import economy, leveraging its market and logistics strengths to distribute high-quality Japanese products nationwide.

(Kazuo Okumura, Chairman of the Board, delivers opening remarks)

Mr. Takeyoshi Takehisa, Chairman of OKAVAN Co., Ltd., introduced that since listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2013, OKAVAN Group has deepened its focus on inventory value solutions and product distribution platforms, operating Japan's largest B2B wholesale platform, NETSEA, and the e-commerce price comparison platform aucfan. To expand overseas operations, the company established a subsidiary in Hainan, China, in 2022 to build cross-border e-commerce between China and Japan, forging strategic partnerships with Yeepay, Sinomach Hainan, and Yiwu Mall Group. The Tokyo showroom co-established with Yiwu has successfully attracted 125 merchants from Yiwu, showcasing over 8000 products across multiple industries, generating more than 200 inquiries and意向 orders exceeding 5000 million yen, thereby promoting trade exchange between China and Japan.With support from all parties, Aokefan Group will deepen its collaboration with Yiwu Mall Group to drive Chinese manufacturing onto the global stage and deliver more high-quality products and services to both sides.

(Ivy Commerce City Group Deputy General Manager Huang Haiyang delivers a speech)

Huang Haiyang, Deputy General Manager of Yiwu Small Commodity City Group, stated that since the launch of the "Yiwu China Small Commodity City" brand overseas expansion plan in 9 last year, the group has adhered to the cooperative principles of consultation, joint construction, and shared benefits, steadily advancing the phased implementation of five models globally: overseas branch markets, overseas warehouses, overseas stations, overseas showrooms, and overseas exhibitions. To date, multiple related projects have been successfully launched in several countries. Among them, as a key destination market, the opening and operation of the Tokyo Showroom in Japan have garnered significant attention from merchants and buyers alike. The Yiwu Japan National Pavilion is also scheduled to open in Yiwu in 7, which will help diversify the range of imported products available in Yiwu, accelerate the iteration and renewal of Japanese imports in the market, meet consumer demand, and drive consumption upgrades.Yiwu Commodity City Group will leverage its platform strengths to help expand sales channels for high-quality Japanese products in China. In the future, by combining Yiwu Commodity City Group's diverse range of marketable goods and extensive traffic with its multi-faceted trade services, alongside Aokofan Group's powerful local operations team and online resources, we aim to achieve mutual complementarity, win-win collaboration, and create greater value.

In recent years, as Chinese products have steadily gained market share in Japan—expanding from everyday essentials to a diverse range of mid-to-high-end offerings—demand for Chinese goods has become increasingly varied. To further grow market demand and sales volume, aucfan Group and Yiwu Mall Group plan to: expand product categories and diversify their lines; innovate inventory strategies to address Japanese customers' needs for small-quantity orders and long delivery times; and host regular offline events to boost transaction volumes and strengthen brand influence.

The in-depth exchanges and inspections led by the Yiwu Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, Yiwu Mall Group, and Aokofan Group have fostered broad and profound consensus on cross-border trade between China and Japan. This collaboration clearly outlines the future development roadmap and key priorities, injecting renewed momentum into ongoing business initiatives while laying a solid foundation for long-term, stable, deep, and sustainable partnership.With concerted efforts from all parties, the future will bring unprecedented opportunities and significant breakthroughs to cross-border trade between China and Japan, fostering robust economic growth for both sides and achieving the grand goal of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation.