Reporter : Han Yadong
Editor : Liu Xian
Publisher : China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News, re-produced on China News Network
Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Wholesale market urgently needs to promote modernization
In the evening of 16 June 2020, the 121st press conference of Beijing's epidemic prevention and control work informed that on 11 June. Beijing had another local case after 57 consecutive days of no newly confirmed local cases. As of 16 June, a total of 116 cases of positive tests were reported, including 106 confirmed cases and 10 asymptomatic infections. All cases were directly or indirectly epidemiologically related to the new agricultural products wholesale market. The clustered epidemic has spread to 9 districts and 28 streets, and related cases have been triggered in 3 provinces and cities. It is preliminarily determined that the epidemic is caused by infection caused by interpersonal transmission or environmental pollution of goods.
The sudden outbreak has once again raised the real issue of city operation: How to build a clean, hygienic and modern wholesale market that matches the modern city? The reporter interviewed An Yufa, a professor at China Agricultural University, Dai Zhongjiu, chairman of the China Vegetable Circulation Association, and Wang Xiaodong, director of the Department of Trade Economics at the Business School of Renmin University of China, and other industry experts and scholars.
Behind the dirty surface is the immaturity of the urban agricultural and sideline products distribution system
The concentrated outbreak of the epidemic in parts of Beijing has caused people to focus on the urban wholesale market. In the impression of many people, this densely populated place still seems to be unable to get rid of the inherent image of dirty and messy: here are full of the voices of vendors selling vegetables, fruits, meat, fresh food, everything, giving residents a life. At the same time as bringing convenience, a series of environmental sanitation problems such as cross-flow of sewage, noise pollution, breeding of mosquitoes, and traffic jams have also occurred.
The problem of dirty and messy wholesale markets in Beijing has been around for a long time. Vertically, this problem has changed for decades, and Beijing still has a gap compared with developed countries. An Yufa, who once studied in Japan, compares Beijing wholesale markets with Japanese aquatic markets, "When you walk into the Japanese aquatic market, you can’t see a little oil or sewage. It’s clean, fine and tidy. Even if you pass by a seafood stall, you can’t smell the unpleasant stench. The market is quiet and there are very few yells and bargains. Seafood, fruits and sushi are all clearly priced."
"Now the city is developing so fast, people have higher and higher requirements on the quality of life, and the wholesale market is still in the state of 20 or 30 years ago, which is not acceptable." An Yufa said.
An Yufa said that the problem of dirty and messy wholesale market has a certain relationship with the characteristics of the products it manages: vegetables with soil, leaves are easy to rot, aquatic products with ice, and the ground will be wet after melting. Seafood and meat products are inevitable. But at the same time, there are historical reasons: many wholesale markets were built in the 1980s and 1990s. When so many parking spaces and sewage treatment facilities such as sewers were not fully considered, wholesale market operators often lacked sufficient motivation to lag behind those old to-be-upgraded infrastructure.
"Dirty and messy problems also need to distinguish between appearance and substance. On the surface, problems such as stacking of items in the wholesale market, disposal of garbage, and on-site cleaning are indeed more prominent. In some places, the on-site environmental sanitation is still flawed. In essence, it exposes the immaturity of the infrastructure system for the circulation of agricultural and sideline products." Wang Qiang, associate professor of the Department of Trade Economics, Business School, Renmin University of China, believes that this infrastructure system includes not only wholesale markets, but also cold chain, logistics, and inspection. Quarantine and garbage disposal at the very end need to be upgraded together.
"Clean and hygienic, not only the surface of the site is clean, but the key is the full traceability of the supply chain level." Wang Xiaodong bluntly said that the wholesale market must reflect the responsibility of quality assurance, quality traceability, safety supervision and other intermediaries, rather than a simple site concept.
The epidemic just exposed the shortcomings of the wholesale market in the supply chain traceability system.
According to the analysis of epidemiological experts, one of the two possibilities for this sudden outbreak in Beijing is the spread of contaminated seafood or meat products to the market through cold chain transportation. "How to improve the supply chain traceability system is a problem that the wholesale market needs to solve." An Yufa said, for example, the salmon in the new place can be traced back to who sold it, how it was imported, and which port Is it directly shipped from the ship, which ship came from, which country loaded the cargo, and which fishing ground was fished and processed?
"Who is in charge of who is in charge of the business now, and there is a problem to find a merchant. As for who sells it to you, sometimes it cannot be traced. In fact, using the existing information means, it is fully possible to trace the supply chain." An Yufa, according to the introduction, in Japan, South Korea, Germany and other countries, the food sold at the stalls must be recorded and documented in all aspects of production, processing, storage, transportation, and sales. The product packaging label must also indicate the manufacturer, production process, place of origin and company name, production date and shelf life, certification label, etc. This not only helps to ensure food safety, but also helps form a trust mechanism.
Many wholesale markets are still at the stage of original vendors and low-level operations
The epidemic is a mirror, which not only reflects the problems of the dirty market in the wholesale market, but also reflects the status of its low-level and low-level operations.
"Many domestic wholesale markets are still at the stage of original vendors, and market supervision is still based on the management of booth fees. Benchmark retail management. With the rapid development of the retail industry in recent years, the modern management of retail formats has been perfected. The management level of the wholesale market has not increased significantly with the expansion of the market size." Wang Xiaodong said.
An Yufa also noticed that at present, many wholesale markets in China are not much different from traditional markets. The market is full of people, the packaging of the goods is simple, the goods are piled up messily, the stalls are small and scattered, the starting point of the transaction is very low, lacking what the modern wholesale market should have - specification and efficiency.
In contrast, the wholesale markets in developed countries have an obvious characteristic: Their markets are full of cars and goods but not many people. An Yufa said that the wholesale markets in Japan and South Korea have implemented operating systems such as wholesale and retail separation, separation of business flow and logistics, and agency of secondary wholesalers. This has reduced a large number of people in the wholesale market, saved resources and space, and avoided road congestion.
For example, Japan clearly prohibits retail behavior in wholesale markets. An Yufa introduced that the majority of the agricultural products produced in Japan from the production field into the consumption field are first transported by the producers (or agricultural cooperatives, traffickers, etc.) to the wholesale market, after a certain transaction method. Agricultural products will be sold to retailers, who then distribute agricultural products to sales outlets and sell them to consumers.
"China's wholesale agricultural products market is one of the only wholesale markets in the pure sense. In fact, there are not many wholesale markets in the pure sense. In fact, the flow of people and the crowding are not what the wholesale market should pursue. We cannot make the wholesale market like a big dish. The market seems to be bustling and bustling, and the actual efficiency is very low." An Yufa explained that the wholesale market itself is an intermediary link in circulation, which undertakes the distribution function. To improve the wholesale efficiency, batch-zero separation must be implemented as soon as possible, so as to achieve fast-in and fast-out, and improve the circulation rate of the venue and vehicles.
"The service function of China's wholesale market is also relatively simple. Many markets only provide centralized trading venues, and the better ones are equipped with a certain storage capacity for customers to store goods for turnover. However, the wholesale markets in developed countries usually have tiered and organized goods. Processing and packaging, quality verification, settlement services, entrusted purchase and sales, agency storage and transportation, information provision, insurance agency and other supporting functions, many wholesale markets are currently not fully equipped with these functions." An Yufa said.
Why are the wholesale markets in some big cities still in a low level of development for a long time? In this regard, Dai Zhongjiu said that China has a large population and obvious diversified consumption levels. The high-end, low-end and different levels of consumer demand are different.
The wholesale market is like a funnel for rapid distribution, which will consume the needs of multi-level people at the lowest cost. Gather together and quickly match supply. In this process, the wholesale market first considers the issue of survival and profitability.
Since the vast majority of wholesale markets are family-run or collective township enterprises, the market has long been under the "who invests, manages, operates, and returns" model. For those who need a lot of investment in manpower, material resources, and capital, they cannot quickly improve the infrastructure construction of market operation income, such as the construction of information system, which appears to be lagging behind.
Urgently need to include the construction of standardized, green and intelligent wholesale markets into the scope of "two new and one heavy"
How to build a clean, hygienic and modern wholesale market that matches the modern metropolis?
"The modernization of the wholesale market should at least include standardization, greening, and wisdom." An Yufa said that in the past, three sentences were often said: Guaranteed supply, food safety, and stable prices. Now it has added environmental cleanliness and green logistics.
Guaranteed supply involves the distribution capacity of the wholesale market, especially stable supply channels and efficient organization and coordination. It is necessary to form a complete chain connecting upstream and downstream, so that there is a market and a market.
Food safety includes the establishment of a traceability system in the supply chain. Agricultural product quality certification, strengthen production process management, establish and improve the quality inspection system, etc..
Stabilizing prices means having market control measures to ensure the relatively stable prices of "vegetable baskets"; clean environment, green logistics including the promotion of clean vegetables into the city, the harmless treatment of garbage, Use measures such as new energy transportation.
An Yufa suggested that building a benchmark large-scale state-owned wholesale market in a first-class city will play a demonstrative role in promoting product quality improvement, product standardization, product traceability, and food safety testing. It will also serve as an emergency guarantee for large cities.
The upgrade and re-engineering of the wholesale market requires more than the market itself. It means that all aspects of production, processing, warehousing, transportation, and sales must be upgraded in accordance with the direction of standardization, greening, and intelligence.
An Yufa said, "For example, if net vegetables are listed, you need to start from the production area and from the farmer's field, so as to ensure that the vegetables entering the city are clean and clean; and the transportation process must have a cold chain to keep fresh, the vehicle arrives at the wholesale market, and there is a cold storage. The trading floor can be air-conditioned and regulate the temperature to ensure that the vegetables will not rot immediately."
Ma Zengjun, president of the National Federation of Urban Farming Centers, said that the characteristics of the first-generation wholesale market were "enclosures, yards, and walls", and the hardware facilities were not perfect. Although the hardware facilities of the second-generation wholesale market are basically sound, their functions are not perfect. The third-generation wholesale market should be a modern market with advanced facilities, perfect functions, scientific management, and active social responsibility. Its upgraded version is the "smart farming approval."
From the perspective of the new infrastructure, the transformation of the agricultural batch market should focus on achieving the "smart agricultural batch".
Dai Zhongjiu believes that the construction of the market's digital information system and digital payment must be strengthened to improve the efficiency of merchant docking and through the transaction data in the market, sales data, customer flow data, vegetable price data, merchant data, activity data to achieve the purpose of food safety traceability and merchant transaction experience, and provide data support for decision-making of superior management departments.
At present, digital platforms such as Alibaba and JD.com have already realized the empowerment of merchants, and the wholesale market is still in the stage of extensive management of the stall system. How to make the wholesale market function as a modern platform, and truly realize the empowerment of individual vendors, is the key to the future development of the wholesale market.
In this regard, Wang Xiaodong suggested, "Wholesale market should not only strengthen market supervision, but also pay more attention to technological innovation of platform trading organizations gathered in the form of booths. In particular, actively embrace digitalization and enable new circulation technology through digital transformation. Traditional circulation organizations continue to innovate wholesale transaction supervision methods to promote the comprehensive upgrade of'Internet + circulation'."
In May 2020, the central government made a strategic deployment, focusing on supporting the construction of "two new and one heavy", that is, strengthening the construction of new infrastructure, strengthening the construction of new urbanization, and strengthening the construction of major projects such as transportation and water conservancy.
"As an important part of urban civilization, the wholesale market is related to the happiness index of the citizens." Ma Zengjun said that there is an urgent need to put the construction of standardized, green and smart wholesale markets into the "two new and one heavy" scope, giving policy support, while giving practical financial support in infrastructure construction, construction planning, new infrastructure, environmental protection facilities, etc. to inject new momentum into the successful transformation and high-quality development of the wholesale market.
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