Located next to the largest fruit granary in the country, the Mekong Delta and the agricultural production center of the Southeast region, for many years, Thu Duc Agricultural Market in Ho Chi Minh City still has a large amount of imported vegetables and fruits for consumption here.

Every day, there is a large number of container trucks carrying vegetables, fruits from the border gates in the Northern region to the market and the surrounding area to supply to warehouses.

According to the market management unit, in the first 7 months of this year alone, the amount of vegetables imported from China to the market reached 24,663 tons; fruits reached 42,222 tons out of a total of 531,233 tons of agricultural products consumed at this wholesale agricultural market. But while the agricultural products consumed at the wholesale market are still on a sharp decline, the amount of vegetables imported from China to the market has increased by more than 12%. In addition, this wholesale market also has 54,154 tons of imported fruits from other markets brought here for consumption.

In contrast, the amount of agricultural products consumed at the wholesale market has decreased by nearly 1/3 in just the past few years. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoang, Vice Chairman of Tam Binh Ward People's Committee, Thu Duc City, said that previously the market only operated at night, and few people came to the market because they only bought wholesale in large quantities. Since Thu Duc Agricultural Market was allowed to retail during the day from 7am to 2pm, the number of people coming to the market has increased. While the number of trucks and container trucks buying tickets through the market gate every day has only decreased slightly, the amount of agricultural products officially consumed in the market has still decreased significantly. The reason for this situation is that a series of kiosks, agricultural produce warehouses, agricultural produce storage areas, etc. have been spontaneously opened to "surround" Thu Duc Agricultural Market.

At the end of Thu Duc Agricultural Market, right at the foot of Binh Duc Bridge in Tam Binh Ward, there is an empty lot with an area of ​​several thousand square meters, where every day there are at least a few dozen to hundreds of container trucks and large and small trucks parked here. These container trucks carry fruits and many types of agricultural products imported from China through border gates in Lang Son or Lao Cai provinces. Then they run from North to South, buy tickets through the gate to enter the market but do not unload goods in the market for control but drive into this spontaneous parking lot, unloading goods right at the parking lot.

In the residential area next to Thu Duc Agricultural Market in Tam Binh Ward, at the intersection between E Street and Road No. 2, there is also a container parking lot called "Do parking lot" with rows of refrigerated containers stacked on top of each other along with many container trucks carrying imported agricultural products and those from other sources gathered here. In the past, this parking lot organized the loading and unloading of goods and bought and sold agricultural products right on the spot. In Binh Chieu ward, along Ngo Chi Quoc street and the residential area behind the market, a series of large warehouses and agricultural produce warehouses have also been opened. In addition to classifying goods and organizing on-site trading like a miniature market, goods from the above parking lots, agricultural produce warehouses, and spontaneous warehouses are also divided into small pieces, using three-wheeled vehicles or motorbikes to smuggle into the warehouses and stalls in Thu Duc Agricultural Market for consumption.

There are hundreds of kiosks and agricultural produce warehouses opened by people and businesses in residential areas around the market. Every day, there are at least several hundred tons of agricultural products that are not controlled in terms of origin, food safety, smuggled goods and even tax loss as with the agricultural products officially brought into the market. In particular, the huge amount of agricultural products freely bought and sold “following” this wholesale market does not exclude smuggled goods disguised as domestic agricultural products brought here for consumption, as many cases have been discovered by authorities in recent times.

Source: People's Public Security Newspaper