Counterfeit goods flood rural markets

(Baonghean) - As the year-end approaches, counterfeit, low-quality, smuggled and unknown-origin goods are flooding rural markets in mountainous areas. People are becoming victims of counterfeit and low-quality goods.

Thai Hoa Town Market is a wholesale market that regularly supplies goods to some districts in the Northwest of Nghe An such as Quy Hop, Quy Chau, and Que Phong. The kiosks are flooded with fake goods, goods of unknown origin, especially cosmetics with incredibly cheap prices. Ms. Tran Thi L, a cosmetics stall owner, said enthusiastically: All kinds of cosmetics are available here, from "branded" to popular goods. I said I wanted to buy popular goods to sell in the mountainous market, and Ms. L did not hide: The most popular ones here are Chinese lipsticks that are imitations of Vietnamese goods, and Chinese goods at "cheap" prices. Ms. L rummaged through the pile of goods and brought out many tubes of THEFACESHOP lipstick, net 1.3g0 06 FL OZ, with blue packaging, and the back labels were all Chinese. Ms. L said, the same type of goods, if made in China, would cost only 40,000 VND/tube, while Thai goods would cost 60,000 VND/tube. When asked where she got her cosmetics, Ms. L vaguely said she got them from a large agent in Hanoi. We saw that many cosmetic products had sharp printed packaging, and it was difficult to distinguish between real and fake with the naked eye.

Chinese clothing and socks are everywhere in Thai Hoa town.

At Thai Hoa Town Market, there is still a mess of spices and flavorings for housewives, and most of the spices and flavorings are smuggled goods with Chinese labels. At Ms. Huong's stall, we saw a lot of spices for beef stew, five-spice powder, butter curry... each package is only 2,000 VND. Ms. Huong said: This new Chinese spice and flavoring has a very fragrant flavor, can be used in restaurants very conveniently, put in vermicelli soup, vermicelli with grilled pork, vermicelli with crab, even hot pot broth will give a very special aroma. Also near Thai Hoa Town Market for more than 3 months now, a roadside clothing, blanket, and bed sheet market has "sprouted"; because of the "super cheap" prices, customers from all over the country flock to buy, causing traffic jams.

The most popular items are sheets and pillows. A mattress cover, if sold at agents in the city, costs from 600,000 to 800,000 VND, but here it is only sold for 60,000 to 80,000 VND, and there is also a pillow for free. We observed that the mattress cover and pillows do not have labels of origin. The shop owner simply explained: This is a household garment so there are no labels. Here, the clothes for adults and children are mainly from China, the price of a warm children's shirt is 80,000 VND/piece, especially socks are sold in "packs", each "pack" of 5 pairs of socks is only 30,000 VND, while the price outside is 50,000 VND/pair of socks. Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh in Nghia Hoi-Nghia Dan said: "Our people's living conditions are still difficult, so we just buy whatever is cheap, but we don't care about the label or origin."

Mr. Nguyen Van Hai - Head of the Economic Department of Thai Hoa Town said: Thai Hoa Town has convenient traffic so there are many fake, counterfeit and unknown origin goods, especially confectionery, alcohol, cosmetics, and clothing. However, the inspection and handling have not been done much. Since the beginning of the year, the town has established an interdisciplinary team to coordinate with the provincial market management to inspect and handle over 20 cases of counterfeit and fake goods violations during the pre-Tet and Mid-Autumn Festival.

Going up to Tan Lac Town Market (Quy Chau), we entered a rice cooker dealer. The types of rice cookers at this dealer are rich and diverse, made in Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, China with the Sharp brand, a joint venture between Vietnam and Japan, with the advertisement on the outside of the pot saying "number 1 in Vietnam". I asked to buy a Sharp rice cooker for 1.2 million VND, the shop owner opened the lid and took out the anti-counterfeit stamp. I checked and saw that there was not only an anti-counterfeit stamp but also a warranty card (exclusively for kitchen appliances imported by Sharp Vietnam Company).

However, the shop owner said: "There is a warranty card but it is not covered by the warranty. If the pot is broken, just bring it here. My husband works as an electrical repairman, so don't worry." Nearby are electronic goods, speakers, pans... mainly from China, with a "illegal" pan costing 400,000 VND. At the candy stalls, there are quite a lot of buyers, mainly people from remote areas who buy wholesale to resell. The real Chocopie cake costs 50,000 VND/package, while the fake one is only 25,000 VND/package. Ms. Vi Thi Son in Dien Lam (Quy Chau) confided: "We mainly buy cheap candy from 20,000 VND/package or less, which is easy to sell because people in the mountainous areas still have difficulties." Through monitoring, we see that most people just like the cheapest goods possible and do not care about quality.

According to Ms. Le Thi Ngoc - Deputy Head of the Department of Industry and Trade of Quy Chau, counterfeit goods are "attacking" the highlands, including many electronic products, plastic products, clothes, soft drinks and confectionery. However, we have only been able to check the stamps and labels, but checking the quality is very difficult, requiring a specialized agency to inspect. The district's interdisciplinary team inspected 43 establishments, 14 of which violated, mainly expired goods and goods with illegal labels, destroying over 8 kg of confectionery. Recently, the Traffic Police Team 1-48 also caught Pham Cong Tuan, born in 1980, in Hung Thinh, Hung Nguyen, driving a transport vehicle with license plate 37C-07406 carrying 83 digital stereos and 3 amplifiers made in China without documents to Quy Chau to sell.

Boycotting counterfeit and unknown origin goods seems difficult, because even the most careful and conscious consumers cannot distinguish between real and fake, let alone the mountainous people with limited education and difficult economic conditions, which creates more favorable conditions for counterfeit and fake goods to thrive. Consumers hope that the State needs to impose sanctions to strictly handle violations to bring fair rights to consumers.

Van Truong