Held under the theme “A Global Supply to Meet Demands of All Kinds”, 205 delegates from 30 countries recently gathered for a WUWM annual Conference, jointly hosted by Mercapalma - the wholesale market of Palma de Mallorca - and the Spanish national markets association, Mercasa.

Speakers at the conference discussed current trends in the wholesale market sector, analysing the social and commercial responsibilities arising from sustainable environmental management, reviewing the important contribution markets make to global food security, and promoting development in the links between wholesale and retail markets.

Several main points raised during the conference were summarised in the closing ceremony by Ignacio Cruz Roche, president of Mercasa. Cruz noted how wholesalers operating from the wholesale market benefitted from its concentration and large-scale economy. Such wholesalers tended to be more attractive to customers, he argued, with the retailers supplied by the market coming from wider geographical areas. This large-scale economy also resulted in reductions in operational and basic service costs (for example cleaning, surveillance, energy supply etc), as well as reductions in the cost of complying with legislation (such as environment, waste management, food safety and so on).

Cruz indicated that a wholesale market provides an extensive and specialised product range, maximising economic value through enabling large-scale supply and distribution to bulk buyers. On the other hand, a retail market offers a wider diversity of product to a larger group of buyers, but in smaller quantities. Cruz suggested that these differences in marketing and management should ensure that the future wholesale and retail trades continue to be specialised.

In addressing public policy, Cruz remarked that public policies to support commercial food supply and distribution had an important role, however they had, in some circumstances, also been known to cause market distortions. He urged public authorities wanting to invest in improving the food distribution chain to focus on bringing about improvements in location and basic site infrastructure eg equipment and transport, so that entrepreneurs, both wholesale and retail, might operate under the same conditions and at comparable cost to those traders located outside the market. Unfair competition can, in this way, be better avoided.

It has been encouraging to see that since this event in September, WUWM has been invited to participate in two European Commission consultations: one relating to the food supply chain, the other relating to ensuring better efficiency and fairness in the European retail sector. This ongoing and increasing recognition of the valuable role and importance of markets continues to strengthen the sector and all its stakeholders - including the consumer.