Fresh Vegetable Supply System at the Da-zhong-si Wholesale Market in Beijing : In the Context of Commodity Chain Analysis

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  • 北京市大鐘寺青果物市場の生鮮野菜供給体系 : コモディティチェーンのアプローチとの関連において

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Abstract

Especially because of an explosion in consumer affluence throughout Asia, the international food trade has increased in recent years, introducing a new phase to the global food economy. China, the biggest country in the region, is a huge consumer of food and a huge producer of agricultural produce, particularly during the recent period in the nation's rapid economic growth. Studies of the food trade from South America to North America and from Africa to Europe have been made by insightful approaches, including world-system perspective and commodity chain linkages. However, little is known about the Chinese food distribution system, and it is difficult to study the East Asian food trade without understanding China's system. The domestic system of this big country must be analyzed to consider the applicability of these approaches to this region. As the aim of this paper is to clarify the fresh vegetable supply system in China, we focused on the Da-Zhong-si vegetable wholesale market as a case study ; it is one of the biggest markets in Beijing and even in China. To grasp the situation of China's system, we first analyzed where vegetables at this market originated through data of the arrival register in March and September. In September, which is in the cropping season for many commodities, the vegetables for Beijing are entirely supplied from the north. In March, which is the pre-harvest season in northern China, the distribution network for the market covers all of China. We then examined the background of long-distance transportation of vegetables to understand the system's mechanism on the basis of discussions of the commodity chain analysis and Araki's previous studies. In consequence, economic gaps between core and periphery regions played an important role, as the previous studies suggested. The purchasing power of Beijing's consumers, among the country's strongest, played a key role in the formation of China's vegetable supply system.

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