"Sales performance of Christmas products this year is slightly better than last year, as they are nowadays being exported to more countries in Latin America and Europe," said Cai Qinliang, secretary-general of the association.

"Yiwu's Christmas goods are popular in South American nations such as Brazil. Besides, a large quantity was sold to Russia. Countries in Europe and the US also show strong and consistent demand."

Cai told Beijing-based China Times in a recent interview that exports of Christmas decoration goods from China to the US account for only a small portion (of Yiwu's combined exports). Exports registered growth this year despite the effects of the trade row, he said.

An article on the website of the Forbes magazine said rising tariffs on Chinese products "will make shopping in the upcoming Christmas season more expensive. US consumers will have to pay more for Christmas items that are usually imported from China".

Agreed Qiu Xuemei, manager of Weijiule, a Yiwu-based manufacturer of Christmas decorations. "Trade tensions have definitely had some effect on our exports, but the impact is not that significant."

Weijiule now focuses on markets in South America, Southeast Asia and Australia, she said. "We have a strong designer team in Huizhou of Guangdong, and our factory there mainly caters to high-end Christmas items, with the Yiwu outlet selling medium to low-end ones.

"In this way, we can cover the full range of Christmas items, catching up with the latest trends and designs.

"In the ever-changing market, it's the latest designs and trendy products that can generate the highest sales volumes.

"For example, recently, we launched a new night lamp through the Douyin short video platform during the Double Seven - the Chinese Valentine's Day on Aug 17. It instantly received over 300,000 hits and became a rage among consumers, but we can't meet the overwhelming number of orders."

The Yiwu International Trade City currently is home to over 75,000 shops that supply over 1.8 million kinds of commodities, including clothing, shoes, hardware and building materials, to more than 200 countries and regions. It attracts over 500,000 foreign buyers each year.

During the 24th China Yiwu International Commodities Fair in late October, over 204,700 buyers and participants, including over 8,000 foreign buyers, thronged the town, clinching over 60,000 deals worth 18.4 billion yuan ($2.67 billion).

"We will continuously enhance our efforts to improve product quality and innovate to make Yiwu a 'warehouse of the world'," said Lin Yi, Party secretary of Yiwu.

Official data showed Yiwu's trade was worth 171 billion yuan from January to August this year, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative have newly emerged as important export destinations, leading many merchants to add Arabic-language labels and manuals to their products, in addition to Chinese and English content.

Customs officials said India is the largest importer of Yiwu's goods, with trade volume exceeding 13 billion yuan in 2017, while Hungary and Angola notching up the top two year-on-year growth rates of 232 percent and 101 percent, respectively.

Chen Huadong in Yiwu contributed to this story.