Handbags head list of US fake product seizures

Designer handbags and other items such a wallets head the list of counterfeit items seized by the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) in fiscal 2012, according to a just-published report.

All told there were 22,848 seizures in the year - which ran from October 2011 through September 2012 - which was a small decline on the previous year.

The total value of shipments increased however, from $1.11bn in 2011 to $1.26bn, with each seizure carrying an average value of around $10,500 at manufacturers' suggested retail prices (MSRP).

Handbags and wallets accounted for 40 per cent of the total number of seizures by value - more than twice the proportion in 2011 - followed by watches and jewellery (15 per cent), clothing and accessories (11 per cent), and consumer electronics/components and footwear (8 per cent apiece).

"Part of the tremendous growth in handbags/wallets seizures is due to successful interagency-coordinated enforcement operations, such as Operation Market Day," says the CBP report.

Watches and jewellery also showed an increase thanks to a single seizure of fake watches with a value of almost $29m during the year, and there was a massive rise in seizures of counterfeit airbags, from 13 in fiscal 2011 to 65.

Counterfeit medicines accounted for 7 per cent of the total - down from 13 per cent in 2011and despite the huge success of the international Pangea V operation - with digital, media, computer equipment, labels/tags, toys and other commodities in the low single digits.

Looking at the source of origin of the sezired counterfeits, the CBP report notes that 72 per cent came from China, 12 per cent were from Hong Kong and India and Singapore accounted for 1 per cent apiece. All other countries accounted for fractional amounts but collectively added up to 14 per cent of seizures.

"Seizures of infringing goods from China and Hong Kong totalled $1.1bn as valued by MSRP, a 10.4 per cent increase over last year," says the report, which also notes that Peru entered the top 10 list for the first time "due to the seizure of nearly $2m in counterfeit wearing apparel, predominately sportswear and team jerseys."

The complete report can be downloaded here.