Fruit market to relocate in sanitation drive
Print Edition
SHANGHAI’S largest fruit market which will be shut down at the end of the month has drawn a mixed response from both traders and residents.
Shanhua Fruit Wholesale Market on Caoyang Road will pull down the shutters for good after 18 long years as the Putuo District government tries to clean up the area. More than half of the over 500 fruit sellers will move to Huajin Market of Agricultural Products in Qingpu District, while the rest plan to move to the state-owned Xijiao International, the Shanhua Fruit Market Business Management Co told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
For now, the fruit sellers are offering discounts as they try to unload all their stuff before shifting to a new place.
A man surnamed Zhang said he and his wife have been visiting the market ever since it opened. They were there early yesterday too to buy two boxes of pomelos.
“The pomelos sell for 3.3 yuan (US$0.5) per kilogram elsewhere but here we get it for 2.5 yuan,” Zhang, who lives just 4 kilometers away from the market, said. “We will definitely miss the market because we were paying bargain prices for good quality fruits.”
But others in the vicinity have welcomed the decision to close down the market, saying it was dirty and stinking all the time.
“The pavement near the Shanhua market is always sticky and crates of rotten fruits stink during summer,” said a woman living nearby.
The Shanhua Fruit Market Business Management Co, which runs the market, said over 30 percent of the city’s fruit business was done here. The market itself stretched 40,000 square meters, while its annual trading volume was close to 3 billion yuan. Most vendors said relocating far away from the city center might affect sales initially.
“Some of my customers who come on electric bicycles to buy fruits here might not come so far,” said a fruit seller surnamed Wang, who said he was moving to Xijiao International.
Other sellers said the new location was ideal for large buyers who came in cars.
“Most of the sellers at our market have regular customers from restaurants, hypermarkets, canteens, companies and fruit stands,” said Gui Weijun, manager at the Shanhua company.
The fruit sellers said they prefer markets with more relaxed rules like Shanhua rather than strict ones like Xijiao International.
“We chose to relocate to Xijiao International because we feel that a state-owned institution is more reliable and we do see good prospects there, but their membership-only and no-cash rules might deter some of our customers because they make trade less flexible,” said a seller surnamed Zhang.
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