A wholesale market that supplies 20 million consumers cannot but be colossal. And this is especially true for the one in Beijing, China - 6 sq km, 1,799 direct employees and 36 thousand tons of produce handled every day. Produce comes not only from all over China, but from all over the world.
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On Saturday, January 14th, a delegation from Macfrut visited the facility and met Vice-President Gu Zhaoxue. Prices are fixed, set by the market, but they are monitored by the government, which can influence them so that they don't drop too much and make things difficult for producers.
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The tour was guided from start to finish. The delegates boarded micro-vehicles, and were driven directly to an importer stand, escorted by 25 people all along the way.
The importer had fruit from all over the world, but mostly from Chile (cherries and nectarines packed in controlled atmosphere). Apples came from the US. Nectarines were of the white and of the Super Queen varieties.
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The group also saw a cart carrying a pallet of Italian Sweeki kiwis and the importer also had some Italian, Kiwi Uni produce.
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The group also saw a cart carrying a pallet of Italian Sweeki kiwis and the importer also had some Italian, Kiwi Uni produce.
"We are hoping to cooperate more with Italy in the future," said Zhaoxue, hinting at the fact that there is little Italian produce available at the moment. And it will remain so until agreements for other types of fruit, in addition to kiwis, are signed.
"We are the second wholesale market in the world after Rungis in Paris but, when the extension is finished, I believe we will be the first. We handle 36 thousand tons of produce every day on average. Yesterday, though, we reached a peak of 21 thousand tons of vegetables and 22 thousand tons of fruit. This is because it is almost the New Year."
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Gu Zhaoxue, Vice-President of the Beijing wholesale market.
Zhaoxue explained that there have been two trends lately - the search for appealing and functional packaging and fruit imports from 40 different countries.
The market forms a network with other 14 markets located all over China and they sell produce cultivated on 3 million hectares. 80% of the fruit and vegetables consumed in Beijing passes through this network. 5,558 businesses work within this structure. The Market was founded in 1988 with only 15 employees. Nowadays, the turnover exceeds €520 million. The market owns 270 machines to distribute the produce and has even started selling online.
"We are increasingly looking for high-quality. All those wanting to sell need to be certified, each truck must show certifications of origin. Food security is very important. We carry out sample inspections especially on incoming goods."
Imported produce is similar to that found in Italian wholesale markets, i.e. packaging is good and carries information on origin, harvesting, grade and variety. For the domestic produce, however, there seems to be a mass agriculture where packaging and quality are of secondary importance. Feeding 20 million people located within 950 km is no easy task.
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We were particularly impressed by the enormous quantities of Savoy cabbage. Trucks were being loaded by hand and crate piles were a couple of metres taller than the trucks.
We were not impressed with the quality, though, as everything seemed messy, not very clean and very chaotic.