Local authorities in Guangzhou said last week that a spot check found more than half of the PVC pipes substandard. According to the news report from Guangzhou Daily, the quality inspection agency tested 47 lots of PVC pipes from 15 retailers in the city, and 25 lots failed to meet the standards in terms of gauage, density, strength, light transmittance, etc.

While one spot check may not be the most accurate, I've seen plenty of government, industrial and consumer reports confirming the same problem: the lack of quality and credibility in the Chinese market.
It makes the consumers' role more complicated and difficult, in a retail environment that neither guarantees quality/authenticity nor honors easy return/exchange.

But the key question relates to whether the Chinese consumers are ready to pay a premium for high quality. Last year, after the tainted-baby-milk scandal, many Chinese parents switched to imported formula (not made-in-China Western brands). At one point, when I went to a local post office in Akron, Ohio, to send some baby clothes to my nephew in China, I was asked by a friendly associate: "You are not sending any baby formula? We've seen a lot of that going to China lately."

See, if the Chinese consumers were willing to pay for imported plastic pipes, it would be a win-win. They will finally have the peace of mind, and the North American pipe extruders could make some money.

Don't tell me the shipping cost is the obstacle. If Chinese firms are already importing pipes to North American, it would only make economic sense to ship some made-in-U.S. pipes back across the Pacific in the same containers.

Or am I being too naïve?