Wet markets still dominate fresh food trade

Wet markets still dominate fresh food trade

Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta

Despite the rapid expansion of modern retailers such as
hypermarkets, supermarkets and mini-markets during the past few
years, traditional wet markets continue to dominate the fresh
food trade, according to the latest survey by AC Nielsen.

More than 95 percent of household shoppers preferred to buy
fresh vegetables, meat and seafood at traditional outlets,
particularly wet markets (60 percent of respondents), the AC
Nielsen 2003 shopper trends survey stated.

"Traditional beliefs and the popularity of morning exercise
have been key factors in sustaining wet markets in the shopping
agenda," Yongky Surya Susilo, director of retailer and business
development at AC Nielsen, told a media briefing on Monday.

Basic fresh food shopping would not move overnight toward
modern trading even though the hygiene factor was crucial in
modern lifestyles, he said.

The AC Nielsen report followed an earlier report in this paper
that the rapid expansion of modern retail outlets may have caused
the closure of many traditional grocery stores, causing huge job
losses.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) 2003 National Labor Force
Survey reported that jobs in the retail sector during the year
declined by 7.42 percent to 4.24 million from 4.58 million in
2002.

Yongky, however, warned that modern retailers had begun to
threaten the dominance of traditional markets in the fresh food
trade.

The survey showed that while most fresh food shopping remained
strong in traditional markets, 21 percent of the shoppers
preferred to buy fresh fruit at modern outlets.

The fresh fruit trade has started to shift toward modern
outlets and it may only be a matter of time before other fresh
food items start moving as well, Yongky said.

"Retail chains would see this as an opportunity for
expansion," he said.

He said that reasons why people purchased fresh fruit at
modern outlets included better display and preservation systems,
and that retailers had better access to imported fresh fruit.

Elsewhere, the survey also stated that modern retailers
experienced strong growth in the number of outlets in the past
two years, growing by an average of 31.4 percent per annum, while
the number of traditional outlets declined by an average 8.1
percent per year.

The number of traditional stores dropped from 1.90 million in
2001 to 1.75 million nationally last year, while modern trade was
up from 3,865 to 5,079 outlets.

Yongky said the expansion of modern retail outlets was
inevitable because it was linked to changing lifestyles in urban
areas.