Chinese authorities destroy 3,000 tonnes of fake goods worth US$69M

In all, 3,000 tonnes of counterfeit products valued at 500 million yuan (US$69 million) were burnt, dismantled or thrown into landfill, CCTV said.

Items in the haul included bottled alcohol sporting brands from Treasury Wine Estates and high-end baijiu producer Kweichow Moutai, state media reported.

A statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation, which did not name any brands, quoted Sichuan official Yang Xingping as saying the government has prioritized cracking down on infringement, and was “forcefully rectifying illegal and chaotic phenomena through an iron fist”.

The “destruction operation” was part of the 2022 China Fair Competition Policy Publicity Week. Such public displays are not uncommon in the country, where counterfeit production remains a large industry in spite of attempts to eradicate it.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated global trade in counterfeit products was as much as US$464 billion in 2019 and said a boom in e-commerce in 2020-21 led to massive growth in the supply of such goods.