Promoting European Branded Food Products Globally: The “Enjoy it is from Europe” Initiative

The European program “Enjoy it is from Europe” aims to promote European-branded food products on world markets, aligned with EU Regulation 1144/2014. Among the key participants in this initiative is OPAS (Organizzazione Produttori Agricoli Suini), Italy’s foremost agricultural pig producers association, representing over 12% of the national livestock sector. This project, financed by the European Commission in 2020, is named Eat & Think Pink China and Hong Kong. It involves a series of events spanning over the next two years, designed to elevate European pork products in these key markets.

The Eat & Think Pink China and Hong Kong Project

The Eat & Think Pink initiative is a comprehensive effort to increase the visibility and appreciation of European pork products in China and Hong Kong. The project includes:

  • Trade Fair Participation: Showcasing products at major international trade fairs.
  • Training Programs: Educating young Chinese chefs about European pork and its culinary versatility.
  • Social Media Engagement: Establishing a presence on popular Chinese platforms such as Weibo and WeChat.
  • Hosting Chinese Operators in Italy: Offering firsthand experience of European agricultural practices and product quality.

Adapting to COVID-19: Virtual Events

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures taken by China to control its spread, OPAS has received authorization from Agea, the body appointed by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural Policies, to conduct online meetings. Starting in early November 2022, OPAS will host virtual incoming sessions. These sessions will include around twenty buyers, opinion leaders, CEOs of major distribution chains, and representatives from leading Chinese media outlets.

These virtual visits will allow participants to tour OPAS’s agri-food facilities remotely. This innovative approach ensures that the values of European pink pig meat—compliance with animal welfare regulations, environmental protection, and sustainability—are effectively communicated, despite travel restrictions.

Commitment to Quality and Sustainability

OPAS is a product organization that unites over 70 farms, primarily located in the Po Valley area. These farmers adhere to stringent production protocols that often exceed current regulatory requirements. This commitment aligns with the European “Farm to Fork” strategy, which emphasizes the delivery of food products that respect animal welfare and environmental sustainability.

European Standards in Practice

European pink pig meat is produced under rigorous legislative frameworks ensuring high standards of animal welfare, environmental protection, and sustainable farming practices. The Eat & Think Pink initiative aims to highlight these standards to Chinese consumers and business partners, demonstrating the superior quality and ethical production methods of European pork.

Looking Forward

The “Enjoy it is from Europe” program, through the Eat & Think Pink China and Hong Kong project, represents a significant opportunity to strengthen the presence of European pork in Asian markets. By combining traditional marketing approaches with innovative virtual engagement strategies, OPAS is set to expand its influence and showcase the best of European agricultural practices.

As the project progresses, it will continue to foster strong international relationships and promote the core values of European food production, ensuring that high-quality, sustainably produced European pork products find a place on tables around the world.

Press Release HK COMUNICATO STAMPA

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China’s high-quality development offers multiple opportunities: experts

MILAN — China is already the world’s top market in terms of purchasing power parity and is an “essential” player for Italian companies, said Italy-China Foundation executive vice president Riccardo Monti on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a public convention on China’s latest economic trends, and opportunities there for Italian companies.

The event, entitled “China Watcher 2021,” was hosted both on and offline by the Italy-China Foundation, the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and the industrial group Assolombarda. It featured the participation of analysts and corporate experts from various sectors, as well as Italy’s Ambassador to China Luca Ferrari.

According to the experts at the convention, China’s high-quality development, which includes green energy transition, wealth redistribution, an improved medical system and domestic consumption, means opportunities for Italian companies in sectors ranging from healthcare and renewable energy to agri-food and manufacturing.

“I think the energy transition is going to happen and is going to bring interesting opportunities,” said Matteo Tanteri, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure company SNAM.

The proof of China’s commitment to green energy transition is in increased public awareness about climate issues, large energy companies’ engagement in developing new energy vehicles (NEVs), and government actions to monitor emissions and energy consumption, Tanteri added.

Filippo Fasulo, joint head of ISPI’s geo-economics observatory, also listed renewable energy as one of the most promising sectors in the Chinese market for Italy, highlighting that “environmental improvement is crucial to China’s social contract.”

Concerning the healthcare sector, Valtero Canepa, head of Bracco Group China, stressed that higher life expectancy and an improved medical system in China means increasing growth potential for Italian companies in the Asian country’s healthcare market.

“In China, the healthcare system is no longer for the few but for everybody. It has increased demographic coverage and is improving. This will create an enormous market… furthermore it is an aging country with growing life expectancy, meaning a shift toward chronic illnesses, hence growing demand,” said Canepa.

From the agri-food sector, Italian pork meat producer OPAS’ export manager Luisa Baldi highlighted that Chinese high-end consumers’ increasing demand for high-quality food means not only retail growth, but also a boost for short-supply-chain-companies, given the greater importance such consumers attach to food quality and traceability.

These companies have a more sustainable business pattern, which is relatively common in the Italian agri-food industry.

“China’s definition of common prosperity and wealth redistribution is very interesting for OPAS in order to enter a market characterized by growing purchasing power, with consumers always more interested in wellness and healthy food,” said Baldi.

Aside from market opportunities, experts also stressed the challenges a more domestic consumption-oriented China will bring, identifying e-commerce, on-site production and innovation as key adjustments for future success.

“Italian companies have to intercept opportunities with great pragmatism, tapping the uniqueness of China’s impressive digital ecosystem which is globally unparalleled,” said Monti. Modern Chinese society is mainly cashless, he explained, since digital payments can cover almost all of consumers’ spending needs.

According to Alessandro Zadro, head of the Italy-China Foundation’s research center, Italian companies in China are still lagging behind in terms of digitalization, with just one in two companies positioned on Chinese e-commerce platforms.

However, Chinese consumers prefer online purchasing channels, and the country’s online retail revenues are expected to exceed $3 trillion by 2024, according to the Foundation’s latest study.

“We have to be in China not only to export but also to establish on-site production. China’s policies offer great incentives for international companies as well. Eighteen of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical companies have opened R&D centers in Shanghai,” said Canepa, urging Italian companies to invest in innovative products in order to stay competitive in China.

Original post.

China’s high-quality development offers multiple opportunities: Italian experts

According to the experts at the convention, China’s high-quality development, which includes green energy transition, wealth redistribution, an improved medical system and domestic consumption, means opportunities for Italian companies in sectors ranging from healthcare and renewable energy to agri-food and manufacturing.

China is already the world’s top market in terms of purchasing power parity and is an “essential” player for Italian companies, said Italy-China Foundation executive vice president Riccardo Monti on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a public convention on China’s latest economic trends, and opportunities there for Italian companies.

The event, entitled “China Watcher 2021,” was hosted both on and offline by the Italy-China Foundation, the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and the industrial group Assolombarda. It featured the participation of analysts and corporate experts from various sectors, as well as Italy’s Ambassador to China Luca Ferrari.

According to the experts at the convention, China’s high-quality development, which includes green energy transition, wealth redistribution, an improved medical system and domestic consumption, means opportunities for Italian companies in sectors ranging from healthcare and renewable energy to agri-food and manufacturing.

“I think the energy transition is going to happen and is going to bring interesting opportunities,” said Matteo Tanteri, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure company SNAM.

The proof of China’s commitment to green energy transition is in increased public awareness about climate issues, large energy companies’ engagement in developing New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), and government actions to monitor emissions and energy consumption, Tanteri added.

Filippo Fasulo, joint head of ISPI’s geo-economics observatory, also listed renewable energy as one of the most promising sectors in the Chinese market for Italy, highlighting that “environmental improvement is crucial to China’s social contract.”

Concerning the healthcare sector, Valtero Canepa, head of Bracco Group China, stressed that higher life expectancy and an improved medical system in China means increasing growth potential for Italian companies in the Asian country’s healthcare market.

“In China, the healthcare system is no longer for the few but for everybody. It has increased demographic coverage and is improving. This will create an enormous market… furthermore it is an aging country with growing life expectancy, meaning a shift toward chronic illnesses, hence growing demand,” said Canepa.

From the agri-food sector, Italian pork meat producer OPAS’ export manager Luisa Baldi highlighted that Chinese high-end consumers’ increasing demand for high-quality food means not only retail growth, but also a boost for short-supply-chain-companies, given the greater importance such consumers attach to food quality and traceability.

These companies have a more sustainable business pattern, which is relatively common in the Italian agri-food industry.

“China’s definition of common prosperity and wealth redistribution is very interesting for OPAS in order to enter a market characterized by growing purchasing power, with consumers always more interested in wellness and healthy food,” said Baldi.

Aside from market opportunities, experts also stressed the challenges a more domestic consumption-oriented China will bring, identifying e-commerce, on-site production and innovation as key adjustments for future success.

“Italian companies have to intercept opportunities with great pragmatism, tapping the uniqueness of China’s impressive digital ecosystem which is globally unparalleled,” said Monti. Modern Chinese society is mainly cashless, he explained, since digital payments can cover almost all of consumers’ spending needs.

According to Alessandro Zadro, head of the Italy-China Foundation’s research center, Italian companies in China are still lagging behind in terms of digitalization, with just one in two companies positioned on Chinese e-commerce platforms.

However, Chinese consumers prefer online purchasing channels, and the country’s online retail revenues are expected to exceed 3 trillion U.S. dollars by 2024, according to the Foundation’s latest study.

“We have to be in China not only to export but also to establish on-site production. China’s policies offer great incentives for international companies as well. Eighteen of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical companies have opened R&D centers in Shanghai,” said Canepa, urging Italian companies to invest in innovative products in order to stay competitive in China.

Original post.

Exhibition MARCA – SHENZHEN

Marca China International Private Label Fair – report

Organised by Bolognafiere China Ltd., in collaboration with BolognaFiere S.p.A. and Marca by BolognaFiere, Marca China International Private Label Fair (Marca China) have been taken place from September 16th to 18th, 2021 in the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Centre. 

The fair was expected to attract more than 500 exhibitors and over 20,000 visitors from nearly 30 countries and regions, covering an area of 20,000 square meters. Exhibit Categories include food, fresh food, organic products, household products, beauty and personal care products, leisure products, pet food and supplies, packaging/technology and services, and retailers/e-commerce, etc.

The exhibition has been postponed several times, due to the covid19 precaution and local Government decisions. Part of delegation and buyer especially from the Province of Fujian and Guangdong as well, faced logistic problem still related to some spot of covid19 cases which forced them to not reach the city of Shenzhen in the same event’s period.

Based on that, despite the upon previsions, the 1st edition of Marca China gathered 289 exhibitors and nearly 6,000 professional visitors. 

Despite this situation, in order to the previous data numbers provided by Bolognafiere China Ltd., the booth of OPAS have attracted most of the visitors coming through to the exhibition. 

Well positioned in the centre of the pavilion, it has served and informed all the kind of visitors interested to receive information and details about the company business structure and products. 

A video visual information about the OPAS company and products has been forecasted during the all exhibition period behind the cooking stage with a big screen, reaching the attention of the all show cooking participants. 

Despite of it, have to be considered that part of the visitors belonged to different industries and another part of them mainly focus on retails business.

The OPAS booth staff was supported with totally 7 passionate persons who used to provide all the information required about the European frozen pork products produced by OPAS plant.

As previously mentioned, the visitors who attended the OPAS booth didn’t totally match the expectation of the right potential buyers but was without any doubt a successfully promotion event rich of marketing exposure.

Relator

Mr Corrado Skabic

Exhibition SCH – Shangai

The report for 2021 Food & Hospitality China exhibition

The 25th Food & Hospitality China (FHC) was successfully held in Shanghai New International Expo Center from November 9 to 11, 2021. After more than 20 years of growth and development, FHC has become a leading trade exhibition in the industry. Under the huge market demand of China’s catering industry, FHC is committed to building an important platform for large multinational companies to enter Chinese market.

During the exhibition, we received customers from different regions and channels, and focused on displaying and promoting a series of products from 791M to them. Besides, we also used combi oven to cook streaky pork, which was highly praised by our staffs and audiences.

We conducted European pork Market Research on existing distributors, end users and visitors through the exhibition. The questionnaire is mainly divided into two parts. One part is about the knowledge of European pork, and the other part is the investigation of willingness to participate in online publicity, training and activities in the future. 62 valid questionnaires were collected, including 54 retail customers, accounting for 87% of the total questionnaires, and 8 catering customers, accounting for 13% of the total questionnaires. More than 80% of enterprises have a certain knowledge of European pork, and more than 90% of enterprises express their willingness to participate in follow-up online activities and publicity.

In combination with customer feedback and actual market research, the following summary is made:

1、Domestic market

According to the latest data by EUROPEAN COMMISSION, the total export volume of pork from the EU (excluding the UK) reached 1,517,000 tons, of which the total export volume to China was about 913,000 tons in the first quarter of 2021, which means more than 60% of EU pork was sold to China. In the first three quarters of this year, the export volume of Europe pork to China was about 2.06 million tons. The highest month of export to China was March, reaching 347,000 tons. However, the monthly export volume to China has decreased monthly since March., even reduce to less than half of March in August. Due to the upside down of pork prices at Chinese market, the domestic market is oversupplied. Which can be seen the imported pork market has not been opened in China.

2、 Product aspect

  1. Vacuum packaging, peeling streak pork has a certain demand in China;
  2. Hope to improve the appearance of the surface of backfat;
  3. Pork knuckles should be well controlled to avoid deterioration;
  4. There is demand from domestic processing enterprises of cervical bone;
  5. There is a demand for full ear pieces from domestic processing enterprises.

3、Channel aspect

According to customer feedback in Nanjing market, few merchants sell 791m products;

4、Marketing aspect

In terms of exhibition propaganda and marketing, it is suggested that the relevant publicity layout can be combined with Chinese elements to adjust the style and be closer to the Chinese market.

5、Achievements of the exhibition

  1. Accumulated a large number of interested customers;
  2. Increased the understanding of a series of products from 791M in the Chinese market;
  3. Feedback from on-site customers is more conducive to understand the Chinese market;
  4. By cooking streak pork at the exhibition site, customers appreciate the taste of the products form 791M.

6、Highlights of the exhibition

  1. The on-site cooking of streaky pork was full of aroma, which attracted many exhibitors to taste, and was highly appreciated；
  2. The display of raw material cutting and vacuum packaging are attractive, and the customer has a good on-site experience;
  3. The command of the leader and the explanation of our professional team have won the unanimous recognition of customers.

7、Areas for improvement

  1. Add more video promotion materials;
  2. Add three-dimensional pig model;
  3. Prepare promotional gifts to customers;
  4. The area of the booth can be appropriately expanded.
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