Editor's note: The following was translated and edited from a report that appeared on the Chinese news portal NetEase, with supporting information from the original report on the English-language news site VietNamNet Bridge and other Chinese reports. It concerns a growing distaste for Chinese goods among Vietnamese consumers, who are increasingly choosing costlier but better-quality Thai and local goods. Could this become a global trend?

"Low-quality" Chinese goods are causing boycotts in Vietnam, according to an October 28  report on VietNamNet Bridge, a Vietnamese English-language news website. The report says the boycotts may be just the opportunity Thailand needs to surpass Chinese imports in the Vietnamese market.

According to Vietnamese people, Chinese goods are synonymous with "low-quality, unsafe products", states the report.  As a result, many Vietnamese consumers are turning to Thai goods instead. Consumption of Vietnamese goods has been on the rise since 2011, due to their "good designs, reasonable quality and affordable prices".

Vietnamese boycotts of Chinese goods illustrate that relying solely on low prices is not enough to win customers, according to the report. As one Hanoi resident told Huanqiu news on Oct 29, Vietnam's first motorbikes were all made in China. Then people discovered that Chinese motorbikes weren't as durable as Japanese ones, and frequently caused accidents. That's how Japanese brands took over the motorbike market.

As one local merchant attests, Thai goods often sell quite well despite being 20-30% more expensive than the Chinese equivalent. And it's not just consumer goods; certain Thai heavy industrial products are making large-scale headway into the Vietnamese market. Many goods made in Thai factories like Sharp, Philips, Panasonic, Sanyo, and other electronics products are also imported to Vietnam in large numbers.

Dwindling sales and trust in Chinese products

At one market in Ho Chi Minh City, sales of Chinese products are down 50% from last month, according to a similar report on the Huanqiu news website. While there used to be 20 or more stalls selling only Chinese imports, now there are only seven or eight. One stall owner says the change is due to the fact that more people are starting to buy local products, despite their higher prices.

The VietNamNet report also suggests that Vietnamese goods have previously struggled in the local market despite the home court advantage because there are no stores that exclusively sell Vietnamese products, and that local manufacturers have failed to develop adequate distributer networks. In many stores, Vietnamese products are hidden behind Chinese goods. According to the report, having them together at the same shops equates Vietnamese goods with "low-quality" Chinese products.

This isn't the only recent Vietnamese report about problems with goods manufactured in China. Police in Hanoi recently confiscated hundreds of Chinese-made brassieres containing an "unidentified liquid solution and small white particles". According to the report from Vietnam News, the national English-language daily newspaper, the sticky liquid causes skin irritation, and has been sent to the laboratory for testing.

Nor is Vietnam the only country losing interest in Chinese products. At a recent international automobile tire exposition in Shanghai, many foreign buyers told suppliers they wouldn't buy anything imprinted with Chinese characters, or with "Made in China" on the product, according to a report from the Chinese financial news service CNFOL.com.

Some analysts believe the recent reports in the Vietnamese media citing problems with "Made in China" products may have something to do with Chinese products historically hurting sales of traditional Vietnamese products.
 

Source: NetEase
Source: VietNamNet Bridge
 

Related links
The Best and Worst "Made in China" Products
Made in China: The Business and Appeal of Manufacturing in China
"Made in China" Foreign Brand Goods Cost Three Times More in China

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Keywords: made in China stigma Vietnamese products low-quality Chinese goods