Monday, September 17, 2007

Report: Fake goods problematic in Vietnam

How can this be news? I knew that the Vietnam marketplace was flooded with fake goods when I was a 10 year old boy living in Ho Chi Minh City. It was pretty much taken for granted that unless a brand name product was shipped directly from "the West", it was probably fake. This is not a problem that is unique to Vietnam, but it's certainly more common. Perhaps another Vietnam News article will explain why in another shocking article.

www.chinaview.cn 2007-09-17 17:55:10

HANOI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The trade and production of fake products, mainly beverages, cigarettes, fertilizers and construction materials, is a pervasive problem in Vietnam, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Monday.

Statistics ranging over the past five years reveal the large volume of counterfeit goods circulating in the local market. They included eight tons of seasoning, 85,000 tons of cement, 50,000 tons of steel products, 25 tons of cosmetics, 35 million doses of pharmaceuticals, 25,450 bottles of alcohol, 50,000 bottles of beer, and 15,000 tons of chemical fertilizers.

In the case of alcohol, the original bottle with a brand label is reused and refilled with cheaper wine of poorer quality, but is usually sold for around the same price, said the newspaper.

Detected fake goods producers and traders are mainly fined. Only those who produce or trade fake goods worth over 30 million Vietnamese dong (some 1,870 U.S. dollars) face trial.
Editor: Pliny Han

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