By Veronica Sardon, DPA
Buenos Aires : La Salada, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, boils with commercial activity as many thousands of people walk through its packed, narrow corridors in search of the best bargain.
"How much is it?" asks one potential customer pointing at a T-shirt.
"Eight pesos ($2.60) bulk," comes the answer from behind a tiny, no-frills stall chock-a-block with goods.
La Salada, in the impoverished Buenos Aires suburb of Ingeniero Budge, is the largest illegal market in Latin America, according to a recent European Union study that pointed out the huge, untaxed flow of cash through the stalls.
The market turns over an estimated $9 million every week for everything from fake branded goods to illegal copies of the latest films. Some 6,000 people work there, selling to crowds of 20,000 or so on Wednesday and Sunday and smaller numbers on other days.
The United States Trade Representative's (USTR) office says the market, like the about 40 other well-established illegal markets in Argentina's capital city, is "almost completely dedicated to the sale of counterfeit goods".
"The market is reputed to be a haven for organised criminal gangs that operate from within it, resulting in little to no enforcement" of intellectual property rights, the USTR said of La Salada in a recent report.
A trip to La Salada gives ample evidence of the ultra competitive prices – often a quarter to a third of standard retail prices in Buenos Aires – that are at the root of such a flourishing business.
Good quality Nike tracksuits – complete with labels and details that indicate this may be a "real" Nike product – go for 43 pesos (about $14) each, or 38 pesos if the buyer takes at least three products from the stall.
Worse quality, more obviously fake goods go for next to nothing – branded T-shirts for as little as 7 pesos ($2.30), five DVDs of the latest cinema releases for 10 pesos ($3.25) and seemingly anything else one can think of for similarly low figures.
Access to La Salada by car is a dangerous adventure through areas left behind by economic progress. Unpaved streets stretch through slums on either side of the road.
But prices are enticing and shuttle buses take wary potential buyers straight to La Salada from key transport hubs on the geographic edge of the city of Buenos Aires.
In the makeshift car park and at the entrance to the large hangars that house the less informal parts of the market, there are signs forbidding the violation of laws against brand theft.
But it immediately strikes the eye that many of the stall assistants must have misread.
Many questions are regularly raised as to why the authorities do not do more to disrupt trade in illegal goods at La Salada or collect taxes on the lucrative exchanges.
The necessary political will is lacking, in the eyes of some. Others charge that current laws fail to treat piracy as a serious crime. Local and national authorities, political and commercial leaders, and anti-piracy agencies pass the responsibility to each other.
La Salada was founded by a group of Bolivians in 1991 on the abandoned premises of a once-popular swimming-pool complex. It has grown nonstop, keeping its Bolivian flavour. Many of the stall attendants are still Bolivians, and food sold on the streets impregnates everything with a strong smell more characteristic of La Paz than Buenos Aires.
The middle class in the Argentine capital generally steers clear of La Salada, but prices are very attractive and business is good.
Stalls open as early as 6 a.m. and the flow of clients quickly grows into a crowd.
Large carts carrying merchandise constantly sprint in or out of the market. The shout "carro!" operates like an ambulance siren in the middle of a traffic jam, as the slow-moving crowd sets aside for fear of being run over.
Leisurely window-shopping is rare – few people would travel to such unpleasant surroundings unless they meant to buy something – and most visitors pack large canvas bags with bargains.
The range of clients goes from families with fast-growing children seeking to spare a few pesos to people planning to re-sell the goods for a profit. At the limit, some owners of formal stores will go as far as to charge "regular" branded-product prices for goods they bought in La Salada.
Hundreds of buses arrive every week from more remote places in the Buenos Aires province from provinces as distant as Mendoza (some 1,000 km west) and even from neighbouring countries like Paraguay.
With this mix of extra-low prices and a large potential clientele, La Salada will likely continue to worry the European Union and other authorities concerned about product piracy for a long time to come.