An Empirical Study of Commodity Market Patterns in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas: Evidence from Vietnam

The development of the ethnic minorities and mountainous areas (EMMA) is currently receiving the attention of countries around the world. This is demonstrated through a large number of studies, in many respects, in many different countries. The objective of the study is to find out the current situation of the commodity market in the ethnic minorities and mountainous areas (EMMA) of Vietnam. In particular, the authors will study whether there is a link between the ability to access governmental policies and the characteristics of this commodity market. To achieve the goal, the authors employed the secondary data collection method to gather the relevant information on government policies for EMMA and conducted an interview of seventy (70) enterprises in the Northern midlands and mountainous regions and the Central Coast to clarify the characteristics of commodity market. By Levene's test, the results showed that the accessibility to governmental policies has a certain influence on the development of the commodity market patterns in the EMMA in terms of diversification of distribution forms and sales method of the business. These findings brought some basic solutions to further enhance the role of the government in developing commodity markets in the EMMA of Vietnam.