Jeffrey Sheban of the Columbus Dispatch has written an article on the role of Thailand in the global trade in Counterfeit Goods.

Experts consider Thailand, a country of 65 million, to be the primary staging point for counterfeit goods produced in China, where up to 90 percent of the world’s knockoffs are made. Organized gangs with financial ties to Hong Kong and Taiwan are behind much of Asia’s trade in fakes.

Before communist China opened its borders to extensive trade with the outside world, Thailand was a regional center in the production of counterfeit goods, especially clothing. But counterfeiters are subject to the same market forces that draw legitimate manufacturers to China — low wages, a huge work force and undervalued currency.

With a central location and modern ports and airports, Thailand remains an ideal transit hub for black-market goods. It also helps that Thailand shares borders with countries that don’t place a premium on intellectual property rights: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, formerly Burma.

Havocscope is listing Thailand’s Counterfeit Market at $805.7 Million.