It's that time of year again to light up Christmas trees and decorate them.
Depending on where in the world you are, you may need to buy a Christmas tree -- or simply go and cut down a fir in your backyard.
Given that China is the world's largest exporter, it's no surprise that it is also the largest producer of artificial Christmas trees. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the world's Christmas decorations come from China - even though Christmas is not even a legal holiday in China.
Who knew Santa's logistics headquarters was in China?
More specifically, the production of Christmas goods takes place in the area around Yiwu in eastern Zhejiang province.
There are more than 600 factories and workshops there. Yiwu's market size is comparable to that of 26 large department stores, and it is the birthplace of most of the world's Christmas merchandise sales and listings.
Yiwu has direct freight trains to Madrid, London, Prague and Tehran. In fact, the London-Yiwu railway, which opened in 2017, has a total length of 12,000 kilometers and passes through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. The whole journey is less than 20 days.
Christmas year round
Production in Yiwu is almost year-round - their only time off is during the Lunar New Year period in January or February.
In addition to that, Christmas trees are being made every day. Even at Christmas itself.
However, most orders arrive in the summer to give workers enough time to complete their tasks by Christmas. Therefore, the busiest seasons for the production of Christmas decorations are June and July.
