The Impact of Wet Market Transforming into Food Supermarket on the Agro-food Circulation
农贸市场超市化改造对农产品流通的影响

The Wet Market Transforming into Food Supermarket (WMTFS) campaign launched at the beginning of 2002 in costal developed areas of China has received great attention. With a close look at the impact of the WMTFS on the agro-food circulation, the paper consists of four parts. The first part briefly reviews the transformation of food retail market after the founding of the People's Republic of China, namely, from state-run food retail store, through wet market and supermarket, to food supermarket. It, therefore, points out that with the income improvement and increasing demand of food safety by Chinese consumers, the food supermarket will replace the wet market in the long run. The second part makes a comparative study of the organizational changes in FFV circulation system which have taken place before and after WMTFS. It proves that food supermarkets constitute the main food supply chain, which can then be reorganized to improve agro-food circulation. The third part makes an analysis of the impact of WMTFS on agro-food circulation and production. (1) WMTFS mitigates the traditional contradiction between individual farmers and large markets in China, while giving rise to the new contradiction between farmers' small-scale production and food supermarket. (2) WMTFS promotes the formation of food distribution centers, while posing a new challenge to the development of wholesale market. (3) WMTFS improves the circulation of agro-food, while decreasing the employment of dealers and retailers. (4) WMTFS upgrades the quality of agro-food supply, while setting out stricter requirements for the quality of farmers. The last part puts forward the suggestions to facilitate WMTFS and speed up agricultural modernization in five aspects: (1) It is urgent to develop the cooperative organizations of farmers to enhance their bargaining power with the food supermarket. (2) It is crucial to establish the agricultural standardization system to facilitate the transaction between food supermarkets and farmers. (3) Agro-food production should be organized according to the resource endowment and special local produce should first be developed. (4) The training of and assistance to farmers should be enhanced. And (5) Laid-off dealers and retailers from the wet market should be re-arranged properly.