This paper's aim is to analyze procurement system of vegetables and fruits by large scale retailers and to consider the influence on traders in wholesale markets and the countermeasures. Large scale retailers procure 70% of vegetables and fruits from wholesale markets and the larger retailers are, the lower this rate is. The largest 15 retailers procure 60% of vegetables and fruits from wholesale markets, including direct transport of some fruits from the growing area to retailers' delivery centers only through wholesalers' books. About imported vegetables and fruits, smaller retailers almost buy from wholesale markets and larger retailers buy from trading companies or abroad growers and shippers directly. Wholesale markets cannot always please large scale retailers with collecting power of information, price finding system, valuation function of quality and suspense days of dealings. Large scale retailers often shift price fluctuation risks, bargain sales' cost, processing and packaging cost, distribution center fee and bills at longer sight, on the middlemen in wholesale markets by their bargaining powers. Such procurement system by large scale retailers causes stiff competition among each wholesale markets and operating difficulty of traders in these markets. To solve these ploblems, it is necessary to regulate the abuses of the large scale retailers' superior position and preferential sale to them. And it is important that these traders in wholesale markets foster more growers and support small retailers.

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The aim of this report has two folds. Firstly to clarify present condition of wholesale market transactions of small and medium sized fruit and vegetable retailers and secondly to analyze the essential features, which are existing in the public wholesales markets. In the resent years, due to the deregulation in the distribution of fruit and vegetables, the system of wholesale marketing has been affected seriously. Especially the scale merit and efficiency in marketing has been improved due to the changes in the behavioral patterns of the large-scale market traders in the wholesale market. However, this has led serious problems to small and medium sized buyers to make transactions in the wholesale market. As a result the number of designated buyers have been decreasing which in turn have led to reduce activities in the public wholesale market. The investigations were carried out in following areas. 1) Changes in the marketing system of the wholesale market which has led to pursue the efficiency on collection and distribution in large scale. 2) The main characteristics of the system of wholesale marketing of fruits and vegetables in the Kyushu Island 3) The actual situation of transactional conditions, which are prevailing in the local wholesale market of small and medium sized designated buyers. The following conclusions were identified in this study. 1) The conditions of the transactions made by the majority of the small and medium sized designated buyers have become comparatively worse than earlier and their managerial depression has led to a strong influence on regional consumers. 2) At the re-structuring stage of the wholesale market authority should not concern only the large scale trading activities in the market. Hens, administrative reforms are needed again to reorganise the system, which also can support to small and medium scale activities. 3) Re-discussion of an administrative agreement regarding wholesale market system is important in order to enhance the degree of essential functions of public wholesale market.

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Few empirical studies on the US perishable produce wholesale markets have been undertaken in the US. It can be explained by the prevailing opinion that most retailers procure fruits and vegetables directly from producers or shippers and therefore the produce wholesaling activities have already become obsolete in the US. However, this understanding is too general to realize the diversity of the produce marketing systems and the development of some wholesale markets within municipal areas. The purpose of this study is to examine the functional changes of the perishable produce marketing systems mainly led by larger supermarkets and their impact on the role of the wholesale markets, based on some existing papers and the interview surveys undertaken in 1996 and 1998. Though Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act has been regulating the whole stages of produce marketing from producers to retailers since 1931, there exists no law that restrains directly the openings and operations of wholesale markets like the Wholesale Market Law does in Japan. The role of the government is to prevent unfair trading activities and secure the transparency of transactions. Actually the marketing share of the US terminal markets has declined rapidly since the 1970's, as the supermarkets have started trying to differentiate each produce department. Nevertheless, even larger supermarkets utilize wholesale markets when procuring niche items, and moreover smaller retailers or food services mainly rely on wholesale markets. Of course, the trading way of market wholesalers has changed dramatically in the past ten years. Some of them have equipped temperature-controlled facilities, and introduced delivery services and diverse retail supports. The future of the fresh produce wholesale markets in the US depends on the wholesaler's strategies responding the requirements of customers, the refurbishment of market facilities and more essentially the locations.

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Japanese Brown Cattle are facing with a crisis of survival mainly due to Beef Liberalization. However, the calf price tends to raise, recently. Breeding farmer must make a effort for increase in cow numbers. It is necessary for the farm to keep steady income and leave good female calf in the farm. The purpose of this paper is to determine calf market price factors of Japanese Brown Cattle and effect of different reproduction roots on calf characteristics formation. Multi-variate analysis are used to analyze it on the viewpoint of Breeding farmer's decision making. Obtained results are shown as below. 1) Weight, age of birth in the market, and mother's point are significant factors for the price formation. And also, mother and father's registration level influence the price formation pattern. Usually, it is said that calf price level produced in pasteurizing is low, compared to that in housing. But, the result shows there is no difference between them. In addition, pasteurizing are able to reduce production cost to 38% of that in housing. Therefore, pasteurizing is better system than housing for calf production. 2) Mother registration level is an important factor rather than father's to produce her children. But father's registration level influences formation of grand child's characteristics. 3) Optimal term about Japanese Brown Calf which should be supplyed to market is shorter than Japanese Black Calf. It is about nine months in the case of female, eight months in male and early supply of calf, whose father or mother belongs to low level registration, compared to calf that in a higher registration, In order to make Japanese Brown Cattle survive, it is important for farmers to make a detailed supply planing in short term and to keep female calf whose father is registered at higher level in long term.

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The purpose of this paper is focused to the recent Japanese calf market and to consider the view on the present and future of the calf market. The Following are the conclusions of this study. 1) In the market structure of Japanese calf, and its market determination, the difference of calf price and rank is increasing. With regards to the background of the market structure, it occurs that a Japanese Black cattle is improving in each area based on its market price difference. 2) Therefore, the price forming of the Japanese calf concerns on mainly securing an excellent seed bulls. The difference of such improvement is strongly reflected in the Japanese calf market. And the difference among the production centers is increasingly spreading. 3) However, recently the decrease of beef price is changing with reduced difference among the production centers. Such change seems to influence the reorganization of the Japanese calf market, in the future.

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[in Japanese]

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Recently local goverments push forward with good organization of flowers and ornamental plants wholesale markets in Japan. Generally speaking, a wholesaler sells directly deal-participants in traditional flowers and ornamental plants wholesale markets. But newly built those is established the middleman system.The purpose of this paper is to solve the actual conditions and the functions of middlman in flowers and ornamental plants wholesale market. The method of studing is the analysis of the statistics and the investigation into the actual conditions of the middlmen in Osaka. The results of this analysis are as follows: 1) The rate of passing through the middlman is low.and most of middlmen are small. 2) The function of assortment of goods gived the middlman is fulfilled by means of direct-purchase besides to purchase from the wholesaler in the same wholesale market. 3) The function of distribution, appreciation, appraising price, control of supply and dimand, pooling uncertainty (massed reserves), credit (stability of settlement) and so on gived the middlman is seldom fulfilled. It is very important for flowers and ornamental plants wholesale markets to increase the rate of passing through the middlman after this. It is necessary that the middlman should strengthen the selling power for that purpose. And the middlman also need support by the administration and the person concerned the wholesale market.

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After the marketing economy was introduced to China, the distribution of vegetables has been undergoing a rapid change among wholesale markets. The purpose of this paper was to study short- and long-term price integration of main vegetables wholesale markets in the Northern China. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model, which was used to study the price integration process in spatially separated spot markets, is derived to take into accounting the price integration levels between the related wholesale markets. Hypothesis testing concerns stationarity and both long- and short-run integration of the price series. Long-term integration is tested with Ravallion's restriction. Error correction models are used to test for short-run integration. It is concluded that the arbitrage system of the vegetables wholesale markets in the Northern China is not functioning yet, even though a wholesale market information system has been establishing since 1994 in China. The results of the price analysis between wholesale markets at different locations implied the weak market structures and market conduct in the Northern China. The following causes are very important to explain the result of this study! illegal transactions, weakness of traders' organization, lack of proper market information system and physical distribution system, and so on. This information can guide policy interventions to correct the market system.

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