The commodity trading markets in East China's Zhejiang province performed strongly during the first quarter of this year. A total of 2,779 commodity trading markets achieved a total transaction volume of 574.02 billion yuan ($79.29 billion), a year-on-year increase of 0.75 percent.

Among them, 2,455 consumer goods markets achieved a transaction volume of 420.826 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.25 percent.

Statistics indicate that in the first quarter, 481 industrial consumer goods markets in Zhejiang province achieved a total transaction volume of 258.63 billion yuan, an increase of 6.88 percent year-on-year.

Thanks to cold, snowy weather and the 2024 Spring Festival holiday, consumers purchased all-weather clothing, which significantly boosted the sales volume of clothing, shoes, and hats.

The province's 73 clothing, shoe, and hat markets saw a transaction volume of 22.08 billion yuan in the first three months of the year, up by 38.22 percent year-on-year.

In addition, the province’s 1,973 agricultural and sideline product markets achieved a total transaction volume of 150.3 billion yuan, an increase of 4.81 percent year-on-year.

Moreover, purchases of flowers, birds, fish, and related pets continued to heat up during the holidays. The transaction volume of 17 markets dealing in flowers, birds, fish, pets, and seedlings surged, reaching a total of 1.89 billion yuan, up 31.29 percent year-on-year.

Data also show that 10 scrap material markets in the first quarter achieved a transaction volume of 7.75 billion yuan, doubling the figure from the same period of last year.