Hanoi wholesale markets fail to draw development capital

According to a Hanoi People’s Committee report, the city has two agricultural wholesale markets, the Minh Khai wholesale market of agricultural products and Southern wholesale market business center. In addition, some Hanoi markets not specifically designated as such operate to all intents and purposes like wholesale markets. These include the Long Bien Market, Yen So Fish Market, Ha Vi Poultry Market, Van Quan Agricultural Night Market, and Northern Thang Long Agricultural Market.

Wholesale markets hold an important position in the city’s agricultural products supply chain, but in practice, they do not satisfy its requirements. Other than that, food hygiene is lacking and not strictly controlled. The markets’ main responsibility is to collect goods from neighboring provinces for sale in Hanoi, but many of the products in the markets do not have traceability labels and prices are often unregulated.

According to the city’s strategic planning to 2020, with a vision to 2030, Hanoi will build six new wholesale markets for agricultural products, flowers, and seafood to trade and distribute agricultural products throughout the city and neighboring provinces. Hanoi is also planning to build an international wholesale market for agricultural products located in Yen Thuong Commune, Gia Lam District covering about 155 hectares.

According to Tran Thi Phuong Lan, Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Hanoi, current decrees, policies and mechanisms regarding market development and management have too many shortcomings. In addition, due to current regulations on public investment in the period of 2016 - 2020, Hanoi cannot allocate investment capital to implement a wholesale market project, along with the fact that the determination of investment land fund is also difficult.

A representative of the Department of Industry and Trade of Hanoi said that through the study of management models in France and Japan along with the reality of wholesale market development, without initial investment in infrastructure, Hanoi and other provinces would face difficulties in developing a system of modern agricultural supply centres. Thus the ministries should seek proper mechanisms of tax and preferential loans in order to attract enterprises to invest in. “Hanoi hopes the Government will see wholesale markets as a source of national benefit. There is less interest in wholesale markets despite its being main source of public budget”, suggested Tran Thi Phuong Lan.