Vietnam needs a modern agricultural wholesale market center.

This wholesale market will concentrate goods and agricultural products exported to Korea and possibly some other countries and territories such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, etc.

Mr. Hongsun, Secretary General of the Korean Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said that it is necessary to build a modern agricultural wholesale market center in Vietnam to effectively support the export of this key product to Korea after the Vietnam - Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA) officially takes effect.

Explaining this plan in more detail, Mr. Hongsun said that although agricultural products are Vietnam's main products, they are still facing the weakness of being scattered and scattered, and there is no suitable focal point to concentrate, auction and distribute goods to different places. Therefore, exporting to Korea to take advantage of the VKFTA may face difficulties. That is the reason why it is necessary to build an agricultural product focal point with a modern information technology and communication system to ensure the need for connection.

Vietnam's agricultural products do not have a center for auctioning and distributing goods to other places.

The proposed market area in Hanoi is about 300 hectares, 6 times larger than the most modern wholesale market in Seoul (South Korea). The core trading center will be built within 2-3 years and will cost about 300-400 million USD, but if the surrounding items are included, it could reach 1-2 billion USD. The project is still in the process of seeking opinions from the Vietnamese Government.

Emphasizing the need to build a wholesale market in Vietnam, Mr. Hongsun pointed out: The wholesale market in Vietnam will soon concentrate goods and agricultural products exported to Korea and possibly some neighboring countries and territories such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, etc. Therefore, there needs to be more related items and constructions to ensure smooth and effective trading activities. For example, the wholesale market needs a product classification and processing center because there are special items that need to be pre-processed and packaged before being exported. This is different from the wholesale market in Korea which is only used for trading domestic goods.

The market will include both wholesale and retail activities and will be operated according to a unified principle, ensuring fair auctions through a modern information technology and communication system. In particular, the auction activity is the most important to ensure prices are close to the market, sellers get high prices and buyers buy at the lowest possible prices.

In addition, building a logistics center that meets all technical requirements is also necessary because it will help reduce logistics costs, which is a weakness of Vietnam. In addition, because this center will gather many points of delivery and receipt of goods from within the country or abroad, it is also necessary to add commercial areas, motels, etc. to serve the resting and essential shopping needs of traders and customers. Here, consumers can shop for goods with clear origin.

According to Mr. Hongsun, to build this market, Korean corporations plan to mobilize international capital, but the main source of capital is from Korea. To build this market, not only private enterprises are needed, but also the support of state-owned enterprises in Korea is needed.

“In running this giant market, we have thought about hiring experienced experts from Korea or a third country to help Vietnam in the beginning. Because the operation and management are not done manually like traditional markets but must work on a modern software system, requiring high level of expertise,” Mr. Hongsun pointed out.

According to Vov.vn