Consumers are fed up with Chinese products!
Following incidents of contaminated essential food items such as potatoes, ginger, and fruits originating from China, many consumers in Ho Chi Minh City have taken precautions by purchasing domestically produced goods or alternative products from other countries.
Since the beginning of the year, Ho Chi Minh City's market has been flooded with smuggled Chinese goods. These range from auto and motorcycle parts, mobile phones, and laptops to consumer goods such as canned food, fabrics, clothing, beer, MSG, cosmetics, helmets, shoes, toothpicks, and bamboo chopsticks... in ever-increasing quantities.
On June 27, Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Khuu Vien Huan for transporting 188 packages of counterfeit Ajinomoto MSG to customers by motorbike. Further inspections at houses number 9 Xom Voi and 41 Tran Chanh Chieu (District 5) resulted in the seizure of 13 boxes and 20 sacks containing finished Ajinomoto products, 50 bags of MSG (25kg/bag) manufactured in China, and a box of packaging printed with counterfeit Ajinomoto MSG labels. Ms. Tran Thi Trang confessed that her facility produced counterfeit MSG by using bulk MSG from China, repackaging it under fake brand names, and then selling it.
On June 25th, Market Management Team 6B inspected store 99 (Chu Van An Street, Ward 2, District 6) and seized 76,000 pairs of smuggled bamboo chopsticks. Prior to this, they had discovered 30 bags (35kg/bag) of bamboo toothpicks labeled in Chinese at a facility on Hong Bang Street.
In the first six months of the year, the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Department handled 250 helmet businesses, including 140 cases of smuggling Chinese helmets, seizing more than 25,000 helmets (of which 11,262 were counterfeit or substandard).
Ms. Tran Thi Lan, a vegetable and fruit vendor at Tan Binh Market, said that since the beginning of the year, consumer demand for vegetables and fruits imported from China, especially garlic, ginger, potatoes, oranges, and apples, has decreased significantly. The reason is that the media has reported extensively on some imported goods from China being contaminated with toxins, leading consumers to..."I'm tired of eating Chinese food!".
Consumers in Ho Chi Minh City are increasingly saying "no to Chinese goods" because imported food from China is widely available and its origin is difficult to determine due to sophisticated techniques used to disguise products as Vietnamese goods. |
Many small traders at Tan Binh market also admit that agricultural and food products imported from China used to sell very well because they were attractive and cheap, but now many people are switching to using domestically produced goods.
The storefront of Hoa Hung Market (District 10), which used to be overflowing with fruits like apples, pears, grapes, and pomegranates imported from China, has now seen a significant reduction. Ms. Luong Thi Loan, a fruit vendor at the market, shared: "Many customers often ask before buying fruit.""Is this a Chinese product?"Only then can you inspect the goods and make an offer.
Ms. Mai Thúy Hân (living on Trường Chinh Street, Tân Bình District) said that since learning about many products that do not meet quality standards and affect health due to contamination with toxins, her family has completely avoided food products originating from China.
To ensure the health of her entire family, Ms. Luu Ngoc Mai, an employee at ACB Bank, no longer enjoys choosing foods with shiny, plump, and vibrant green skins because she is afraid of Chinese products."Although it takes more effort, I only choose to buy misshapen vegetables and fruits grown by our own farmers to ensure quality."- Ms. Mai shared.
Theobaocongthuong - .PH
