China Snack Food was organised by the European Snacks Association (ESA) and by CFNA – the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Foodstuffs. It took place on September 15 – 17, 2011 at the China National  Convention Centre in Beijing, China.

Olive Oil

A significant number of the exhibitors were olive oil and wine importers. The main countries that these companies were trading with, were Italy, Spain and Turkey. Italy, in particular, has developed lately some very sophisticated distribution networks in order to export olive oil to the Chinese market.

During the exhibition, as well as after its conclusion, our Institute made a lot of meetings with selected importing companies. Of particular interest were the meetings with Chinese companies which import olive oil from Greece and Italy.

During the last few years the main exporting country of olive oil to the Chinese market is Italy, mainly because it’s cheaper than the corresponding Greek products.

Many companies showed an interest in importing Greek olive oil, many of which knew about it’s distinct quality, and they expressed interest in further discussions and negotiations.

Wine

As long as wine is concerned, the largest percentage of companies are importing wine mainly from France and Spain. In our meetings with Chinese wine importing companies, there was a significant interest by the Chinese side to import Greek wine products.

Other products

A lot of exhibitors were importers of biscuits, crackers, croutons, nuts and other related products.

No Greek companies participated in the exhibition. On the contrary many companies from Europe were from Italy and Spain. A lot of them stated that while their countries were in the middle of an economic crisis, exhibitions like the present one especially in a country like China, were a tremendous help in their exporting activities. For the majority of them it was not the first time they participated in that particular exhibition or in other relevant trade shows in China.