Shanghai Daily reports an ingenious but foiled scheme to boost prices of domestically-made furniture: taking it through customs and immediately “reimporting” it, so it can be sold as premium, imported goods.
Some expensive furniture that a retailer claimed was imported was made in China and never left the country, the Shanghai entry-exit inspection authority revealed yesterday.
It was further blow for Shanghai-based DaVinci Furniture Ltd following accusations that it had falsely claimed its goods were made in Italy ….
Officials with the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said they had found that some of the furniture DaVinci stocked was made in China and transported to the Waigaoqiao Bonded Zone before being stored in its Shanghai warehouse.
The bureau found that the company had gone through customs procedures for 15 cattlehide sofas produced by a Haining company in Zhejiang Province on June 23 at Waigaoqiao, and “imported” the sofas on the same day.