Abstract
This paper clarifies the reasons for the changing characteristics of the Shouguang Wholesale Market, the most famous shipping point market in China, over the last several years. The conclusions are as follows. 1) The function of the Shouguang Wholesale Market has changed from being a shipping point market to a relay market for collecting and distributing nationwide. As such, this market doesn't necessarily depend on local vegetables produced in Shouguang City. 2) The factor of this change is the loss of collecting power of the Shouguang Wholesale Market for local vegetables. This loss was brought by two events. This first is that the manager of the Shouguang Wholesale Market stresses handling of non-local vegetables produced in other areas. The second is that 10 satelite markets were established in this city and effectively competed with the Shouguang Wholesale Market to collect local vegetables. 3) Such changes reduced the role of the transaction agents in this market. Because the increase in share of non-local vegetables brought the quantity per seller higher, the transactions between sellers and buyers became easier.
