After the intense European heatwave beginning in late May fuelled a surge in imports of Chinese air conditioners, drought across the continent is now driving unexpected overseas demand for Chinese-made water-saving hardware.

In Yiwu – a city in eastern China’s Zhejiang province known as the world’s small-goods capital – Liu Junming has spent more than two decades exporting kitchen and bathroom hardware. He said exports of taps and showerheads had risen unusually sharply this summer.

Taps bound for Europe totalled fewer than 2,000 units per month this time last year. That figure has now surged to about 10,000. Liu said he had done little to court European customers: rather, they had sought him out.

“Most of our new buyers are from the UK, Spain and Italy. They stumbled across my product posts on social media and placed orders straight away,” Liu said. “Water-saving products were what they were actively seeking.”

Beneath the export boom lie Liu’s revamped product offerings. This year, he reworked his product line to introduce low-flow taps for overseas customers. According to him, the fixtures can cut water consumption by 50 per cent over comparable periods of use.

He is not alone in riding this export wave.