spiritsEUROPE took part in a very fruitful mission to China at the end of April, on the back of a High-Level Mission (HLM) led by EU Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski. China is the largest spirits market in the world, a leading spirits producer at global level, and the 2nd export market for EU spirits (after the US). The Mission’s goal was to rebuild bridges and partnerships with Chinese producers and importers and to encourage closer EU-China technical & regulatory cooperation in spirits drinks and on shared challenges.
One of the Mission’s highlights was the relaunch of the EU-China Alcoholic Beverages Working Group on 26 April. This group met for the first time since 2016, under the joint leadership of the General Customs Administration of China (GACC) & DG AGRI. The Working Group, which was relaunched following last year’s EU-China high-level trade & economic dialogue, provides a fantastic platform to discuss regulatory cooperation and standards, sustainability objectives and efforts in the wine and spirits sectors, IPR protection and Geographical Indications promotion. This first meeting after many years highlighted the need for reinforced and closer cooperation between the EU & China on alcoholic beverages. It will be important to build on this important milestone to keep the cooperation alive throughout the upcoming year, before the next edition, which should take place in Europe.
While in Beijing, the delegation also met with industry partners from the China Liquor Industry Association (CADA), China’s association of importers and exporters of wine and spirits (CAWS/CFNA), China’s National Food Industry Association (CNFIA) and the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC). These discussions were instrumental in identifying issues of mutual interest on which we can make progress together and relaunch the much-needed industry-to-industry cooperation required within our sector. We are very grateful for the warm welcome we received and the clear desire from our partners to deepen their cooperation with us.
The Mission ended on a high note with a symposium co-organised by CNRIFFI & our Chinese partners FSPA, where we were able to exchange on opportunities and challenges faced in both China and the EU by wine & spirits producers, important trends in our sectors and room for further cooperation.
