Italy was able to improve its market position against the background of the positive development of imports from China in the dairy sector, which increased by +23.5% in terms of volume and +15.1% in terms of value in the period January-October 2021. In the first 10 months of 2021, Chinese imports from Italy increased by 81.8%, with cheese accounting for the largest share in terms of volume. Specifically, the volume of Italian cheeses sold in China increased by 70.7%, with growth particularly favourable for fresh cheeses.

Total imports of fresh cheese into China increased by 54.8% between January and October this year compared to the same period in 2020, with Italy contributing to this trend with growth of 164.6%, following a strong increase already recorded in 2020 compared to 2019.

Fresh cheese and cream cheese (+157.9% sales in January-October 2021 on a trend basis) are some of the products that Italian exporters will focus on.