An agreement on the commercial protection of agricultural products was reached by the European Union and China.

The agreement provides for the protection of a list of 100 European Union agricultural products on the Chinese market, in exchange for the protection of 100 Chinese products on EU markets.

This list includes several Greek products, such as feta cheese, ouzo, Chios mastic, Cretan olive oil, Kalamata olives and wines of Samos.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We will sign the agreement in Beijing in the coming days”. According to Politico, the agreement stipulates that these 100 products can be sold in China only if they have been manufactured in specific European countries, such as  feta cheese in Greece.

Thus, all the other non-EU farmers, producers and exporters of similar products must rename their products immediately, because it is envisaged that in the next eight years all the above listed products marketed in China will be phased out.

When the EU wins protection for instance for Greek feta, it means that foreign dairies are barred from selling their products there under those labels. They instead have to rebrand and use labels such as “Greek feta-style cheese” which often turn off consumers who may see the products as unauthentic.

In addition, the agreement notes that products remaining on the Chinese market will not be allowed to use symbols referring to the above countries as countries of origin.

Certainly, we, as Greeks and as food exporters, are more than happy and at the same time ethically satisfied with the outcome of this agreement.

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