Article

Is Santa’s factory still in Lapland?

22 December 2021
Tina Aselmann
Tina Aselmann
Editorial & Investment Content
Is Santa’s factory still in Lapland?
Warsaw, Poland

Rosy-cheeked elves are tooling away in a workshop, somewhere near the North Pole. They are working hard to provide us with the decorations that bring the spirit of Christmas into our homes.

Or so the Yuletide myth goes.

But as this chart shows, Santa’s real workshop is nowhere near Lapland. It can be found in China instead.

A city called Yiwu, located 175 miles southwest of Shanghai, manufactures many of the ornaments that adorn people’s homes at this time of year.

There’s no snow there — or magical elves — just hard-working people who see baubles and tinsel all year long.

Figure 1. Top exporters of Christmas decorations and Christmas tree lights in 2020 (USD, millions)
Figure 1. Top exporters of Christmas decorations and Christmas tree lights in 2020 (USD, millions)

Source: UN Comtrade Database. Accessed on 1 December 2021.

Count down to Christmas with our festive charts as we publish a new piece each day. Recognise the images that feature on our calendar windows? Each corresponds to a city where an Invesco office is based.

EM and China Return to calendar homepage

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