What is the trade situation of agricultural products between China and Italy?

China and Italy signed the "Belt and Road Initiative" memorandum of understanding in 2019, and Italy became the first and only country of the Group of Seven (G7) countries to sign the "Belt and Road Initiative" memorandum of understanding with China. From 2020 to 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Italy reached new highs repeatedly. According to China's General Administration of Customs, the bilateral trade volume between China and Italy reached 77.88 billion US dollars in 2022, an increase of 5.4 percent over the same period last year, ranking first in the volume of trade between China and European countries. China is the largest trading partner of Italy in Asia, and Italy is the EU country that has signed the most agreements with China on the export of agricultural products to China. In this context, what is the situation of bilateral agricultural trade between China and Italy?

Overview of Agricultural products Trade between China and Italy

The trade volume of agricultural products between China and Italy rose against the trend under the influence of the epidemic, reaching US $1.7 billion in 2022, ranking fifth among EU countries and up 3 per cent year-on-year. Of this total, China's imports of agricultural products from Italy totaled 830 million US dollars, down 16.1 percent from the same period last year. Imports were mainly wine, cocoa products, coffee products and dairy products; exports to Italian agricultural products totaled 870 million US dollars, up 32.2 percent from the same period last year. Export products are mainly tomato products, tobacco products, animal fats and aquatic products.

Opportunities and challenges faced by China-Italy agricultural trade

On the one hand, based on the cooperation background of "Belt and Road Initiative" and the complementary advantages of agricultural products of both sides, the trade of agricultural products between China and Italy has achieved rapid growth. although the international economic and trade situation is in the doldrums as a whole, the bilateral trade volume still keeps rising. On the other hand, under the influence of the current international situation and trade policy, the trade of agricultural products between China and Italy is still faced with the challenges of increasing trade barriers, high logistics and transportation costs, difficulties in market expansion and so on.

The main Direction of Agricultural Trade Cooperation between China and Italy in the Future

Italy, as a large agricultural country in Europe, accounts for 1/4 of Italy's gross domestic product (GDP). According to the data of Eurostat (Eurostat) in 2022, Italy is the world's largest wine producer and the second largest producer of olive oil in the world, second only to Spain. In addition, Italy is the largest rice producer in Europe, the second largest fruit producer and the third largest vegetable producer. Italian agricultural products have large output and excellent quality, and their trade with China's agricultural products are highly complementary and have broad trade prospects. in the future, Sino-Italian agricultural trade cooperation can be deepened from three aspects:

The first is to further strengthen communication and cooperation between the departments in charge of agricultural trade between the two countries. Guided by the diplomacy of the heads of state of the two countries, and relying on mature mechanisms such as the Sino-Italian Government Committee, the mixed Committee for Economic Cooperation and the Entrepreneurship Committee, we will promote the deepening and strengthening of agricultural economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

The second is to further actively deal with trade barriers and promote the market development of agricultural food products. At present, China's agriculture-related export enterprises still lack sufficient understanding of the Italian agricultural product inspection and quarantine system and relevant laws and regulations, and lack strategies to deal with the stringent trade barriers of Italy and the European Union, so they should further deepen the international market policy research and strengthen the notification of the Italian agricultural product inspection and quarantine system and the relevant enforcement agencies.

The third is to further expand exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Italian agriculture-related enterprises. Encourage enterprises to "go out", strengthen the docking of various exhibitions, and promote all-round and in-depth cooperation between agriculture-related enterprises of the two countries in the fields of agricultural product production, processing, warehousing, logistics and marketing, so as to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Source: agricultural trade promotion