Abstract
The Wholesale Market Law was fundamentally revised in 2018, significantly easing trading regulations in each of the wholesale markets. This paper clarifies how wholesalers in the central wholesale market perceive the deregulation of transactions due to this reform and how they are developing their businesses in response. The following is a general overview of the situation. Regarding the impact of the drastic easing of the prohibition of third-party sales by wholesalers and separation of sales and logistics, a similar trend was seen in both the fruit and vegetables and flower markets, with almost no respondents saying that “negative impacts are greater” and nearly 40 percent saying that “positive impacts are greater” overall. However, there were significant differences in the perceptions for different markets. On the other hand, while nearly 60 percent of respondents in the fruit and vegetable group indicated that “negative impacts are greater” in regard to the impact of the drastic easing of the prohibition of direct shipments, a majority of respondents in the flower group answered that “not much impact” was expected. Similar perception differences were illuminated between large and small-scale fruit and vegetable groups. Since the implementation of the revised Wholesale Market Law, many wholesalers have increased wholesale access for buyers and separation of sales and logistics, with many indicating that they intend to continue these trends. These findings suggest that many wholesalers are trying to strengthen their ability to attract and sell product while utilizing wholesale access for buyers and separation of sales and logistics.
