Nguyen Quang Hoa in HCM City says he has spent the last few days choosing construction materials for his new house. However, Hoa was surprised to find that all available products appear to be made in China.  Hoa isn’t happy about being forced to use Chinese products as they have a reputation for being of low quality. 

 

The reality is Hoa has little choice, because China products dominate the market. Increasingly construction material shops specialise in selling only Chinese products. At least six such shops can be found on Nguyen Tat Thanh road area alone. 

 

Construction material owners argue that Chinese products offer both a wide range of designs and good prices. There are, for example, hundreds of kinds of tiles.  They start from 60-70,000 dong per square metre rising to 500,000 dong per square metre. 

 

According to a showp owner on To Hien Thanh Road, China made products are accounting for 60-70 percent of the bathroom products market share and 90 percent of lighting market share. 

 

Nguyen Van Chau, Director of Ty Le Vang Company, an architecture consultancy firm, said China made products are dominating the market not because they have high quality, but because of their convenience and differing styles which can easily fit different houses.

 

Tran Quang Dat, a senior executive of the Saigon Construction Corporation, also said consumers do not think that China’s products have high quality. That explains why sellers always introduce China-made decoration lamps as products from Taiwan and Hong Kong, so that they can sell the products at higher prices. 

 

Analysts also say that trading Chinese products can bring larger profits because the cost price is very low. 

 

According to Tran Van Huynh, chairman of the Vietnam Construction Material Association (VCMA), Chinese products are often illegally imported and since the products are carried over land and avoid tax – prices remain low. Huynh said that his association has proposed the Government take actions to limit illegal imports from China, otherwise they will kill local production.