Time to break monopoly of vegetable market

SPECULATING ON VEGETABLE PRICES, illegally charging traders, an investigation of Haikou Nanbei Vegetable Market, in Southern China's Hainan province, has uncovered one problem after another. However, the authorities say they cannot shut it down because it is the only channel for selling vegetables in the province. It is time to break the monopoly, says Beijing Youth Daily:

Reports show that the vegetable market accounts for 75 percent of the province's wholesales of vegetables. It is a monopoly supported by the market managers to speculate on vegetable prices and illegally make money from businesspersons.

The monopoly has already led to abnormally high vegetable prices in Hainan. Many may argue that Hainan is an island and it is the transportation to the island that pushes up the prices, but the market's virtual monopoly has also helped do so, as confirmed by the local law enforcers.