Ho Chi Minh City sees bigger scale smuggling after merger

Nguyen Quang Huy, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Division, said 2025 marked a historic turning point with the creation of the country’s largest production and consumption market.

The division’s year end report shows that the vast geographic expansion has brought more complex methods by those committing trade fraud. Where smuggled goods were once moved on small vehicles, 2025 saw violators upgrading to container trucks and large lorries on key routes such as National Highway 51, National Highway 13, National Highway 1K, Ring Road 3 and Ring Road 4.

The shift in e-commerce supply chains is also challenging for regulators. Exploiters are using geographic advantages after the merger by placing large warehouses in the former Binh Duong area to reduce premises costs, while processing orders and delivering to customers in the old Ho Chi Minh City centre.

Goods are broken down and sent through express delivery services from bonded warehouses, industrial zones or even deep inside residential areas. Fast and closed circulation makes it extremely difficult to locate business addresses and warehouses for inspection.

The boom in e-commerce in 2025, especially livestream selling on social platforms, brought revenue but also violations of origin, labelling and pricing rules. Over the year the market management force handled 186 online violations and seized nearly 200,000 product units with a combined value of VND 6.2 billion (approximately USD 258,000).

The gold market was volatile with prices repeatedly hitting new global peaks, stimulating smuggling and intensifying pressure on origin and e-invoice management. Authorities dealt with 30 violations and seized gold jewellery of unclear origin valued at VND 1.16 billion (approximately USD 48,000).

Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Market Management Division Truong Van Ba said the division conducted nearly 1,300 inspections, imposed fines and contributed more than VND 26.4 billion (approximately USD 1.1 million) to the state budget in 2025. Notably 13 serious cases were referred to prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

With consumer demand expected to rise during the Lunar New Year and ongoing global economic uncertainty, the Ho Chi Minh City market management force has said it will focus strongly on four priority areas this year: food safety, counterfeit goods, origin verification and e-commerce.