(Yicai Global) Nov. 17 -- The FIFA World Cup is about to begin in Qatar, and suppliers in the Chinese city of Yiwu, famed as the world’s small goods capital, are working around the clock to produce national flags, souvenir badges, and other items for the soccer tournament.

Wang Jiandong, who has been making merchandise for sports events for over a decade, told Yicai Global that his firm has received orders for the World Cup since last year. With the event just around the corner, the company is working overtime and is even air-freighting goods for one-time delivery.

Yiwu-made items account for nearly 70 percent of the World Cup total, according to estimates by the Yiwu Sporting Goods Association. About 60 percent of the inventory at Qatar’s official exclusive World Cup store is produced in China, broadcaster China Central Television reported. 

For Wang’s company, the World Cup will boost sales by about CNY10 million to CNY20 million (USD1.4 million to USD2.8 million), making up around 20 percent of the firm’s entire annual sales.

Yiwu Jinzu Cultural and Sporting Goods received orders for World Cup commemorative rewards, commemorative badges, keychains, and other merchandise as early as 100 days before the competition’s kick-off on Nov. 21, said boss Chen Xianchun. Orders will grow by at least 50 percent this year from 2021, recovering to pre-pandemic levels, Chen noted. 

He Jinqi, an Yiwu merchant who specializes in the production and sales of national flags, said that since the list of the 32 teams qualified for the World Cup came out in May, clients have contacted him for enquire about prices and to place orders. He expects orders to increase 10 percent to 20 percent this year, buoyed by World Cup orders.

Wu Xiaoming said the plant of the company in Yiwu he works for has already exported nearly 1 million soccer balls worth around CNY20 million. 

Picking the Winner

Online rumors claim that suppliers in Yiwu can predict the winner of the World Cup depending on the volume of merchandise sold, just as with the US presidential election of 2016.

“It’s very hard to predict,” He said, adding that sometimes he cannot be sure whether all the flags of the 32 qualified teams will be used during the World Cup. 

The amount of merchandise sold does not depend on the results of the matches but on the number of fans that country has, according to Wang.

The winning country will have more merchandise because it will have played more matches. “When there are only four to eight teams remaining, we’ll get more orders for those countries,” Wang said. 

In 2016, some merchants from Yiwu could predict that Donald Trump would have been elected president of the United States because the number of orders they received for Trump goods was huge. But they have never successfully predicted the winner of a World Cup.

Editor: Futura Costaglione