TOO MANY IMPORT BARRIERS BUT ITALIAN EXPORTS TO CHINA ARE ON THE RISE, +32.6% IN 2009 AND +72.9% IN FIRST QUARTER 2010, SAYS FEDERALIMENTARE

Attention towards Italy’s excellent food products is steadily increasing in China: export data show increases in 2009 (+32.6%) and the first three months of 2010 (+72.9%). Things could be even better if the many barriers on imports and tariffs were reduced, points out the Italian Federation of Food Industries, Federalimentare, which is representing the Italian food industry in China right now, on the mission organized by Ice (Italian Foreign Commerce Institute), Confindustria (Italian Federation of Employers) and the ABI (Italian Banks Association), with the patronage of the Ministry of Economic Development and Foreign Affairs.
In 2009 Italian exports, although reaching only 111 million euros (less than our exports to countries like Croatia, Romania and Norway), accounted for an increase of 32.6% over 2008.
“The continued increase in our food exports to China,” said Daniele Rossi, the general manager of Federalimentare, in a press release, “was confirmed in the first three months of 2010, when we reached 28.7 million euros, an increase of 72.9% over the same period in 2009”. Federalimentare says it is “encouraging data, especially considering the fact that the importance of the Chinese culinary tradition excludes the hypothesis of Italian cuisine becoming a mass food “model”. “Sure”, he continues, ”we have not exploited but a fraction of the potential market that this great country represents, but it seems we’re heading in the right direction”. The import-export exchange between the two countries confirms this statement: Federalimentare points out that food imports from China are on the rise - 185 million euros in 2009, an increase of 2.7% over 2008.

In detail, the main Italian food items exported to China in 2009 were: “confectionery”, 31.9 million euros (+49.8%); ”wines, musts and vinegar”, 20.2 million (+30.2%) and “oils and fats”, 14.3 million euros (+17%). Slowing down the exportation of our products to China, besides its deeply rooted gastronomic traditions, is also the local administration. Federalimentare says “they should reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, health restrictions and simplify certification procedures in general: they are often too costly, fragmented and layered”.
Moreover, the Federalimentare CEO adds, “The low level of imports from Italy has not yet permitted the creation of professional and qualified importers-distributors. Italian companies are faced with several obstacles, which aggravate the problem of availability of products, thereby penalizing consumption”. Another goal of the Federalimentare mission in China, says Rossi, is “the qualitative and quantitative growth of on-site Italian restaurants, which are the “link” to the diffusion of our cuisine and products. This link has proven to be the way to knowledge and consumption anywhere”.