CADEG is what other cities in Brazil call their Mercado Municipal. The abbreviation stands for Central de Abastecimento do Estado da Guanabara which translates to Supply Center of the State of Guanabara (from 1960 to 1975, the city of Rio de Janeiro was called State of Guanabara).

CADEG is a market hall where individual consumers and also stores, resellers and restaurants come to get fresh fruits and vegetables, wines plus a few other articles for households and kitchens. It is open from Monday to Saturday but different than other markets it is working mainly during the night until the early afternoon. At 2 or 3 AM (yes, in the middle of the night) you will meet merchants buying and selling the newly arrived goods. But you can also go there at 8 AM or 10 AM and still be able to see the market work. Some stores close late which means around 2 or 3 PM but in general, it is recommended to visit CADEG before midday. Since there is a number of smaller and bigger restaurants inside the market hall it is possible to have lunch there as well.

On the backside of the market, there is a number of florists with quite a big selection of products from smaller and bigger plants to equipment and many things you need for your garden.

From the top, CADEG looks quite large as you can see in the photo but it is in fact smaller than you might imagine once you entered the main corridor. CADEG has three floors for stores and a huge basement floor for cars and small or mid-sized trucks of suppliers.

The history of CADEG

CADEG is not the first municipal market in Rio de Janeiro. It was built in the mid 20th century as a reaction of a local merchants association to create their own market space after the official municipal market in the city center was closed down in 1957.

That former market existed since 1907 and was located in the city center at Praça Marechal Âncora, right next to the landing stage of the boats leaving to Niteroi. This former market was run by a private company holding a contract with the city of Rio de Janeiro for the period of 50 years. When this period ended in 1957, there was no follow-up agreement and no extension of the contract since the city was planning to invest in a new urbanization project in that same area that did not include a new municipal market.

Driven by the need to continue with their commercial activities the merchant association decided to invest in the construction of a new market space which was then to be controlled by the merchants themselves. A territory was found in the neighborhood of Benfica that belonged to a former cigaret producing company. The company agreed to sell the space which was then used by the association to build the new municipal market of Rio de Janeiro (back then called Guanabara), known as CADEG. The construction started in 1957 and was completed in 1962.

After decades of being the most important supply center for markets, stores and restaurants in the region the situation has changed for CADEG since in the early 21st century more and more supermarkets received their products from different sources. Especially large supermarket chains do not buy products in local market halls but use their own supply chains. Because of these structural changes, CADEG has now less wholesale volume than in the mid and late 20th century and more retailers.

The location of CADEG

CADEG is located in Benfica, a traditional lower-middle class and working class neighborhood in the central part of Rio de Janeiro. But don’t confuse “central part” with the city center that locals and visitors are often walking through, the areas of commerce and main avenues around Avenida Presidente Vargas. Benfica is not really close to that part of the center but closer to Maracanã or Quinta de Boa Vista (whereas “closer” is a relative term and does not mean you can walk until there). You might call the location the extended part of the center. That means if you are walking around the city center near Avenida Presidente Vargas or even Maracanã you cannot pass by CADEG. You need to take some means of transportation to get there. This could be a bus, taxi, Uber, mototáxi etc.

If you are arriving from Zona Sul, Barra da Tijuca or the city center you will clearly see the difference in infrastructure, architecture and social stratification the closer you get to CADEG. This is the true face of Rio de Janeiro. The majority of the city does look just like around here.

And by the way, right next to CADEG is the Morro do Tuiuti, (the Tuiuti hill), home to the Paraíso do Tuiuti samba school that in 2018 became the second winner in the Carnaval samba school competition in Rio de Janeiro with their spectacular and widely celebrated political presentation showing the historical faces of slavery in the country.

More information regarding CADEG you can find on their official website: https://www.cadeg.com.br/.

And on this unofficial website: https://www.cadeg.org/.