China-Europe Agriculture Enjoys Booming Cooperation

FROM Bulgarian yogurt to Greek olive oil, Polish milk, Czech beers, and Hungarian wine, more and more farm produce from countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is being served on Chinese tables.

- YU YANG

While diversifying Chinese consumers’ choices, the food presents a window to learn about other cultures and food flavors.

Agriculture has traditionally been a pillar of the economy for CEE countries. It has also become an important area of their cooperation with China.

The raging COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on agricultural production and exports in these countries. China, having contained the epidemic at home, is recovering from the crisis and also brings a silver lining to CEE countries as its domestic market is fueling rapid growth of farm produce imports from these countries.

Blazing a New Trail

Lowicz in central Poland is home to a variety of dairy products. The county is less than 100 kilometers away from the Lodz Railway Station, a logistics hub along the rail freight line connecting the Chinese city of Chengdu with European countries. Every year, over 600 containers loaded with dairy products worth €10 million leave Lowicz for China. Thanks to encouraging demand from the Chinese market, Poland is seeing a rapid growth in exports of dairy products to China.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Poland’s dairy industry which depended heavily on European markets. Facing plummeting consumer demand, Polish dairy farmers had to reduce the number of cows they bred. “The pandemic increased the cost of storing and transporting dairy products by about 20 percent,” said the sales manager of a local dairy cooperative Szymon Musk. “Many farmers were on the brink of bankruptcy. Without the Chinese market, our losses would be even greater.”