The second Sino-Italian Food Safety Dialogue was held in Beijing this month during which dairy safety and trade issues were raised from both sides. Italian representatives are hugely enthusiastic about the prospect of further expanding their influence in the Chinese market.
In 2013 Italy’s total value of dairy products reached around 15 billion euro with exports reaching 2 billion euro. However, data shows that Italian dairy industry is subject to a limited target market, which mostly consists of European countries and North America. Even though China has a huge demand for imported dairy products in comparison to New Zealand, Australia and Netherlands, Italian dairy still lags far behind in terms of credibility and recognition with Chinese consumers.
According to ASSOLATTE (Italian Dairy Product Association), in recent years there has been a significant growth in the amount of milk and other dairy products exported to China. In the first quarter of this year, the amount and value of cheese exported to China has increased to 59% and 69% respectively, remarkably Italian milk exports to China grew by 148% in the first quarter.
The abolition of EU’s milk quota system in 2015 will create a new regulatory environment for Italy in which milk production capacity will greatly increase and represents a great opportunity for the Italian dairy industry.
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