Over half of imported goods used in Tanzania are fake

What you need to know:

In his presentation, Prof Honest Ngowi of the Dar es Salaam-based Mzumbe University campus said that the findings resulted from interviewing 250 consumers’ countrywide and 47 manufactures and combine the primary and secondary data.

Over half of imported goods used in Tanzania are fake

The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. At least 50 per cent of goods consumed in Tanzania including drugs, foods, construction materials and other working tools are counterfeit, according to findings of a research commissioned by Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI).

In his presentation, Prof Honest Ngowi of the Dar es Salaam-based Mzumbe University campus said that the findings resulted from interviewing 250 consumers’ countrywide and 47 manufactures and combine the primary and secondary data.

The acting CTI chairman, Mr Evasist Maembe, said at a forum that they had commissioned such research because the problem of fake goods is alarming, especially imported items from China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Singapore, Kenya, South Africa and others.

According to the study, entry points for the fake goods include ports, airports and porous borders which cause imported counterfeits, existence of domestically produced fake goods and lack of levelled playing field in the market.

Prof Ngowi gave out 10 reasons for the rampant fake commodities including wrong view of free market economy, organized counterfeit dealers and poverty which encourages rush to low priced counterfeits.