Chinese commodities evading Vietnam’s net

VietNamNet Bridge – China-made commodities are flocking into Vietnam through many channels. Streams of Vietnamese people have been bringing Chinese commodities to Vietnam and stifling Vietnamese production.

Buy at the source, sell directly to buyers

“You will be able to reduce business costs if you can import commodities directly from suppliers in China”: These words abound on the Internet together with an invitation to attend a free workshop in HCM City which introduces the ‘technology of trading Chinese commodities from Guang Zhou’. The attractive advertisement piece has caught people’s attention.

You just need to go to Google’s website and type “di mua hang o Quang Chau” (seeking to purchase commodities in Guang Zhou), you will get detailed instructions telling you how to get Chinese commodities for resale in Vietnam and promising you fat profit.

A petty merchant at Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi said that it is now the age of everyone trading Chinese commodities.

There have not been any statistics released about the exact number of Vietnamese people who specialise in trading Chinese commodities from Guang Zhou. However, the number of these people is thought to be very high in light of the high number of interpreters and guides for Vietnamese merchants in Guang Zhou and the numbers of vehicles carrying the merchants.

A ‘senior’ interpreter and guide in Guang Zhou said that there were some 1,000 persons in this employment. Moreover, there are a lot of overseas students who are also involved in the work.

Though there are many interpreters and guides, they always have fully occupied schedules. Additionally, a lot of Vietnamese merchants do not need interpreters because they can speak Chinese or have enough experience trading Chinese commodities.

As such, a lot of Vietnamese people have been flocking to China to bring Chinese commodities back to Vietnam to re-sell domestically. They may not know that they are the efficient arms of Chinese producers, who are facing big difficulties in the global financial crisis and need to boost sales.

The international trade centre

A lot of Vietnamese merchants are well known at the Guang Zhou International Trade Centre. There, merchants and normal people from all over the world can make purchases, place orders and carry commodities home, from the most modern equipment and luxurious commodities, to products with the label “Made in Vietnam” and dirt-cheap products.

Even people who can’t speak Chinese can purchase products from clothes, footwear, souvenir, computers to mobile phones with body language. You just need to say where you are from, the commodities you purchase will be sent directly to the commodity packing areas reserved for different countries.

It seems to be very simple to trade Chinese products. You just need to deposit money with the ‘representative office’ of De Zheng Hotel in Hanoi or HCM City, you will have Chinese money when you arrive in Guang Zhou. You just need to book a travel ticket by phone, and you will see a ‘capital’ of commodities the following morning. There, at the markets, you just have to select commodities and negotiate prices, while you don’t have to worry about the loading. Vietnamese people go to Guang Zhou with empty briefcases, and return with full briefcases and a lot of 100kg consignments.

De Zheng Hotel provides the service of carrying commodities to Hanoi and HCM City, VND1.5 million for a consignment to Hanoi, and VND2.5 million to HCM City.

Everyday, streams of Vietnamese merchants head for China, feeling happy because they can earn fat money from trade at the international trade centre. Some big wholesale merchants stay in Guang Zhou for a long time, receiving orders from Vietnam and then sending the commodities to Vietnam. Even bigger wholesale merchants have purchased houses in Guang Zhou and set up networks specialising in distributing Chinese commodities to all cities and provinces in Vietnam.

Through these wholesalers, Chinese commodities, mostly garments and footwear, have been coolly penetrating Vietnam’s market.

VietNamNet/SGTT