Carbon Market

The Carbon Market is the largest market in Cebu City, Philippines. It is the oldest market in the Central Visayas region. As the largest market in the city, various wares are sold in Carbon, including dry goods such as clothing, kitchenware, and handicrafts, as well as wet goods, such as fruits, vegetables, and meat, among other goods, sold by approximately 6,000 vendors in the market.

In the 2020s, the market started undergoing redevelopment works aimed at modernizing the market. These works include the construction of a new main building for the market, as well as other retail amenities aside from the market. The first of the three new public market buildings is scheduled to be finished by December 2026.

The name of the Carbon Market came from the word carbón, Spanish for coal, since the area was said to be close to a coal depot used for the steam-powered ships and trains of the old Cebu Railway that ran in Cebu from the 19th century up until World War II.

Little is known as to when commercial activities in Carbon started. However, the district around Carbon, called Lutao ("float" in English), which also includes the Ermita barangay, is right by the coast and close to the port of Cebu. It is said that trade was already present during the Spanish occupation of Cebu, and Carbon Market predates the American occupation of the Philippines.

Like much of Cebu and the Philippines, Carbon sustained heavy damages from World War II. But as the city and the country rebuilt and grew, so did the market. On May 13, 1964, then-Philippine president Diosdado Macapagal, by the virtue of the Presidential Proclamation 241, formally donated the plot of land on which Carbon stood to the local government of Cebu City, which, until then, was formally owned by the national government.

In the 1990s, there were plans to phase out the Carbon Market leading to the formation of cooperatives by vendors. In 2000, some vendors created a cooperative to sell their wares, and later two other cooperatives were formed by different units of the market.

In 2007, governmental delays in rebuilding of the market caused a political controversy, leading one vendor to run for city council from the barangay of Ermita, winning on that single-issue platform.

As of September 2009, the Cebu City government opened up land for private development of a newer market, called the Bagsakan Center. The goal was to increase competition and lower prices for consumers at both markets.