BRI elevates Guangdong's Yangjiang knife and scissor industry to global prominence

In recent years, Yangjiang, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province famed for its knives and scissors, has experienced high-quality growth in this sector, gaining global traction due to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Yangjiang Shibazi Group, a leading kitchen knife brand in Yangjiang, exports its knives to over 20 countries and regions.

Li Kongling, manager of the foreign trade department of Yangjiang Shibazi Group, a premier kitchen knife brand in Yangjiang city, south China's Guangdong Province, receives an interview from People's Daily Online. (Photo/Liu Yinghua)

"We have continuously expanded our overseas business these years. We have also enlarged our production scale year by year," Li Kongling, manager of the group's foreign trade department, told People's Daily Online.

Li emphasized the growth in the group's overseas knife sales in recent years.

"This type of knife can be sold for $10 to $20 in overseas markets," Li said in front of a display cabinet.

According to Li, the introduction of the BRI has not only facilitated the rapid global expansion of Chinese companies but has also drawn foreign merchants to learn the art of crafting Yangjiang knives.

Nevertheless, the global expansion of Yangjiang's knife and scissor enterprises was challenging. Li recalled that during an early 2016 assessment of overseas sales, they discovered that 90 percent of the market in developed countries in Europe and America was dominated by local kitchen knife and kitchenware brands.

"If we wanted to expand our business rapidly in overseas markets, we had to take a different approach," Li said, adding that the group then focused on the markets in countries along the Belt and Road after the proposal of the BRI.

Li stated that in 2022, the group's overseas sales reached 110 million yuan ($15.1 million), with products distributed in various Belt and Road countries, including Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Data reveals that in 2022, Yangjiang, recognized as China's "capital of knives and scissors," hosted nearly 10,000 market players in the hardware, knife, and scissor industry. The sector's output surpassed 55 billion yuan, employing around 200,000 individuals.

"We aim to expand our operations into more countries and regions along the Belt and Road," Li concluded.