Vietnamese goods submerging supermarkets, counterfeit goods flooding traditional markets

Supermarkets mostly sell domestic goods for Tet, while counterfeit goods are flooding traditional markets.

Vietnamese goods dominating supermarkets

Big C Supermarket said that it has 130 flavors of sweets and jams products to sell during Tet season, 90 percent of which are made-in-Vietnam. Meanwhile, Co-op Mart said it has stored 400 tons of sweets and 200 tons of jams for Tet, and most of the products are made by domestic companies. Other supermarkets also say domestic sweets account for 80-90 percent of the products for Tet.

The small merchants who specialize in trading confectionaries at Binh Tay Market in HCM City said that the number of wholesalers from southern provinces who come to the market to buy goods for retailing has increased by 30 percent compared with the previous month. The merchants said that domestically made products have been selling well, but the sale of imports has been slow.

Answering Tuoi tre newspaper, Cuc, a merchant of Binh Tay Market, said that the dollar price increases have made imported products more expensive. The prices of the products imported from Malaysia and Indonesia have increased from 90,000 dong to 110-120,000 dong per box, which explains why sales of these products has dropped dramatically.

The merchants said they prefer purchasing products from domestic companies. The prices of the products have increased only by 5-7 percent, hovering around 55,000-70,000 dong per box. The products of Kinh Do and Bibica currently dominate the market.

Counterfeit goods flooding traditional markets

Since Vietnamese people still highly value import products, dishonest traders have been trying to counterfeit foreign products. The products made by private workshops are put into well designed boxes and introduced as foreign products. The prices of the products are relatively high, but the information about the origin of the products is vague.

In Binh Tay Market area and the wholesale market on Le Quang Sung street in District 6, the shops here have been displaying confectionary products since early December. Those who come here to buy goods for retailing would be advised to purchase domestic products which have reasonable prices. However, if people say they want to purchase products in big quantities, they will be advised to buy imported products because the products would bring bigger profit.

Most of the products introduced as imports from Malaysia and Thailand are put in canned boxes weighing 500-700 grams. However, analysts say in many cases, the products are really made by private workshops in Vietnam.

In Hanoi, the shops on Hang Buom, Nguyen Sieu and Hang Giay and many other retail destinations are selling products with vague origins. Sellers say the products come from China, and Chinese words can be seen on the packages of the products, but there is no Vietnamese word which shows the origin of the products

The owner of a kiosk at Dong Xuan Market, the biggest wholesale market in Hanoi, also said that most of the products available here come from China and they do not have labels. Some products have labels, but these labels have been put on by the merchants at the market, not by the producers or suppliers.

Last year, when local newspapers reported that melon seeds contained toxic chemical substances, domestic production workshops had to market the products with clear labels. However, it seems that people have forgot about the “melon seed danger”, because they are still buying the products without clear information. Sellers simply say that the products come from China.

Similarly, thanks to competitive prices 20 percent lower than domestic products, China-made seasoning powder has also been selling well.

According to the Market Management Agency, about 3000-5000 cases of producing and trading counterfeit goods are discovered every year.