Busy buyer

The majority of buyers at the market are from restaurants, supermarket chains, fruit stalls and online farm produce shopping platforms. They visit from 3 am to 4 am each day to buy produce at the best prices.

Wang Han, who owns a small restaurant at the market, has been buying ingredients at Xinfadi for five years.

"I'm pretty familiar with the vegetable sections, where all the produce is clearly marked," he said.

"For instance, flowering cabbages from Beijing and Ningxia Hui autonomous region are placed on different stands, and various types of potatoes are provided by different vendors. You can always find what you need as long as you spend enough time there."

First-time visitors to Xinfadi will find it impossible to see all of the market in one day. However, Wang can complete his purchases within 30 minutes.

For his business to make a profit, he depends heavily on the market, as it supplies vegetables at half the price charged at other venues.

Wang Huajuan, who runs a small vegetable store in Beijing, relies on Xinfadi to make a living, according to news portal jiemian.

Facing fierce competition from supermarket chains, she can sell her vegetables at a lower price thanks to buying them from the complex.

Many private businesspeople such as Wang Huajuan visit the market frequently to buy produce in an attempt to reduce costs.

After Xinfadi closed due to the new COVID-19 cases, many such businesses faced a shortage of stock for two days until Monday, when a temporary fruit and vegetable trading area started operating near the market.

On Tuesday, to ensure normal supplies of fruit and vegetables in Beijing during the temporary closure of Xinfadi, produce previously traded at the market was transferred to designated areas.

Wang Hongcun, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said that although the measures taken at Xinfadi have temporarily affected distribution channels, authorities are stepping up efforts to coordinate market resources, and food supplies in Beijing can be guaranteed.

By Tuesday morning, 2,100 tons of vegetables had been sold at the Xinfadi temporary fruit and vegetable trading area, a 20 percent rise on the previous day, according to the bureau.

"Many small vendors have come to trade at the temporary market, which shows they are confident about the control measures taken," Wang Hongcun said. "Turnover for farm produce at the venue is growing steadily."

He added that six other large wholesale markets across Beijing acted quickly to increase their vegetable supplies.