EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski will be visiting China on 21-26 April 2024, accompanied by a business delegation of senior representatives from the EU agri-food sector, in conjunction with the European Commission’s presence at Anuga Select China fair with an EU pavilion. The purpose of this visit is to facilitate European agricultural food and beverage exports to China and expand their presence on this market.

The Commission invites business representatives of the following sectors to apply:

• meat products
• chocolate, cereals and pasta
• confectionery and bakery
• dairy
• wines, beer and spirits
• olive oil and vegetable oils
• infant food and baby milk powder
• geographical indication products
• commodities such as grains, oilseeds and animal feed, pet food
• fruits and vegetables

About the participation

The Commissioner would like to include in his business delegation European and national producers’ organisations and companies from all EU Member States with strong export potential that preferably have not participated in such EU projects before. The final selection of the business representatives will be based on product and geographical balance of the delegation. In this context the candidates’ representativeness of a given sector, their capacity to conduct international business and accessing challenging markets will also be considered.

The visit to China will concentrate on providing market intelligence in the food and beverage sector, business-to-business activities, as well as retail and site visits. The programme of the business delegation will provide the representatives of the European agri-food sector with an excellent platform to discover the Chinese market and to make direct business contacts both in Shanghai as well as in Shenzen (mainly at Anuga Select China fair).

The costs of flights and hotels are covered by the participants themselves, but all business events from the official programme, including local transport and the transit between Shanghai and Shenzen, will be covered by the European Commission.

Background

China is the third agri-food export market for EU-27 (after the US and UK) and the fifth supplier for the EU. The EU is committed to open trading relations with China.

The EU’s engagement with China is guided by the 2019 EU Strategic Outlook, which promotes reciprocity, a level playing field and fair competition. The strategy includes a strong focus on improving market access (related to EU agri-food exports to China) which is, by far, the top priority for EU countries in China as far as agriculture is concerned.

On 1 March 2021 the EU and China bilateral agreement came into force to protect, 96 European Geographical Indications (GI) in China and 100 Chinese GI in the EU against imitations and usurpation. This agreement is the first significant trade agreement between the European Union and China, a milestone in EU-China cooperation. This landmark agreement is expected to result in reciprocal trade benefits and demand for high-quality products on both sides. A second list of 175 GIs on each side will be protected four years after entry into force, the European Commission is currently working on the next steps with China. The High Level Mission could be the opportunity to have a discussion on intellectual property rights in China which would be of interest to EU producers.

The European Union has been involved in promoting EU agricultural food and beverage products in China by co-financing 60 ongoing promotion campaigns proposed by organisations from different Member States and targeting the country, as well as the European Commission’s promotion campaign ‘Colours by Europe. Tradition of Excellence’, our presence at FHC and CIIE Shanghai, the Promotion export seminar in 2022 and the Market Entry Handbook.

More information: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/events/agri-food-business-mission-china-2024-04-21_en