Many people who have traveled in Africa and visited some of many Chinese retail outlets across the continent have encountered cheap fake items on the shelves, which not only present a bad image of China's manufacturing abilities but also infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.

In a bid to address this situation head on, in late February this year, China's Ministry of Commerce joined forces with eight export associations to clamp down on pirated and counterfeit products being exported to Africa. The move forms part of a six-month campaign launched in December 2010 to combat intellectual property rights infringements.

Meanwhile, large exporting places including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Jiangsu, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, have been ordered by the ministry to set out specific plans to crack down on the sale of such products.

As Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei put it, the move is crucial to sound development of Sino-African economic ties, as over the past decade, bilateral cooperation has been expanding rapidly.

Complex reasons

China-Africa trade volume increased from $10 billion to $126.9 billion between 2000 and 2010, with total direct investment in Africa surging to $9.3 billion by the end of 2009. With these figures China has emerged as the African continent's largest trading partner, while Africa has become China's fourth largest overseas investment destination.

The sub-standard products, however, pose potential harm to future economic cooperation between the two sides.

Figures from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers show that counterfeit goods cost local companies about $650 million and the government $250 million in taxes in 2008. And most counterfeit goods came from China. Counterfeit goods are generally defined as unauthorized imitation of branded goods, while pirated goods consist of making unauthorized exact copies of other brands.

These Chinese products, however, remain popular among the low-end consumers in Kenya who prefer them on the grounds of affordability compared to the more expensive products from Europe and the United States, as shown in a recent survey by UK-based research firm Synovate.

Analysts said the reasons Chinese products have gained a foothold in the African marketplace are complicated.

"In addition to affordability, the popularity of Chinese goods stems from the growing market demand in Africa," Han Yan, the Research Associate with China-Africa Research Center at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told ChinAfrica.

"More Africans are buying low-priced goods because of insufficient purchasing power [of the continent]," she added.

Apart from blaming some Chinese manufacturers for low-quality products, Han said that some African traders should also take responsibility for illegally bringing sub-standard goods back to the continent for sale. Han called on the government to strengthen control and supervision over the quality of export products to curb the export of fake and counterfeit products to African countries.

Positive sign

African entrepreneurs have welcomed the tough stand being taken.

Gideon Badagawa from the Uganda private sector said it is a positive sign from the Chinese Government to clamp down fake products, adding that Uganda also needed to fight piracy from within.

Badagawa was quoted by Uganda's newspaper The New Vision as saying that the Ugandan Government needed to put punitive laws in place to deter culprits.

Former Minister of Trade and Industry of Kenya, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi, recently said quality of the majority of made-in-China goods is very good, and Kenya will join hands with China to combat those sub-standard products.

To date, China has signed inspection and quarantine agreements with over nine African countries, including Egypt, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone, which has greatly improved the quality of Chinese export products, especially daily consumer goods to Africa.

As part of the effort to combat exports of pirated products to Africa, China will launch a one-year campaign to improve the quality of its exports, with an aim to maintain balanced and sustainable trade and boost domestic manufacturers' global branding. CA