Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Lenita Toivakka led a business delegation to Shanghai last week to promote her country's food and agricultural products in China.

The decision to explore the Chinese market was based on the strong diplomatic and trade relationship between the two countries, rather than Russia's counter-sanction measures against the European Union (EU), Toivakka told the Global Times in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

China market

 "This year Finland and China are celebrating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of our diplomatic ties. We already have some 400 Finnish companies operating in China. In that sense, China is familiar to Finnish companies," said Toivakka, who also attended the Food From Finland event the same day.

"Also, China is a huge country filled with possibilities, and it has fast economic growth. And we've noticed there is a large demand here for healthy and pure food. When Chinese people get to know Finnish food - the clean ingredients and how we produce them - they will come to appreciate the food," she added.

The decision to explore the Chinese market also aims to boost the growth of the Finnish food companies, Toivakka said. The policy was launched in January 2014, before Toivakka became the country's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade in June.

Finland's food exports to China accounted for around 3.5 percent of its total exports to China in 2014. About 80 percent to 90 percent of the food exports were dairy products. Finland also exported oats, barley and small amounts of blueberries to China.

However, Finland had exported as much as 25 percent of its annual production of approximately 2 billion liters of milk and 100 million kilograms of cheese to Russia. After the EU launched a new round of sanctions against Russia in September 2014, Russia soon announced that it would stop importing dairy products from the EU, including Finland.

Toivakka said that Russia's counter sanctions have impacted her country, but so far the effects haven't been too great because of the work Finnish food producers have done in finding new markets. "The food companies have been very active at international fairs and other events," she said. "They've explored new markets in both Europe and Asia. But at present we view China as the most important market for Finland."

Although Toivakka recognizes that the competition for exporting food to China is fierce, the minister said she's confident that Finland enjoys certain advantages. "Because of our very northern geographical location - we have endless summer days and no nights at all," she said. "It makes Finland and Finnish food products unique. As much as 70 percent of our land is forest and 10 percent of it is lakes. The country is very natural. Finland is not as urbanized as many other European countries. Because the Chinese market is huge, I believe there is space for our very pure, clean and safe products."

Toivakka pointed out that Valio, the major Finnish dairy producer, has a great deal of expertise in producing lactose-free products. "We've seen a huge demand in lactose-free products. There are people who cannot drink normal milk," she said.

Finnish food

In addition to dairy products, Finland is also promoting its meat industry in China. The country is on the cusp of obtaining permission from Chinese authorities to export pork to China. "The Finnish market is very small and so is the food market," she said. "We have only 5 million people. But these meat producers are big players. They've already been exporting to other countries in Europe."

As a fish lover, Toivakka hopes that the Chinese market will have the opportunity to try some of the unique varieties of fish native to Finland. "My favorite is a type of fish called vendace. It is very small and lives in lakes," she said. "We make a dish with Finnish pork, noodles and vendace on top of it. Although we can already have the fish in some of the hotels here, it is not accessible on the general market."

As the negotiations continue, Chinese consumers will be able to buy more food products from Finland in the city's restaurants, specialty stores and food markets, Toivakka said. But she also acknowledged that for a small country like Finland, it is probably not going to produce a large volume of food products at the beginning. "But when the demand grows, we're also ready to produce more," she said.

Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Lenita Toivakka, speaks Wednesday at the Food From Finland event, where Finnish food products were on display.

 

Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, Lenita Toivakka, speaks Wednesday at the Food From Finland event, where Finnish food products were on display. Photos: Ni Dandan/GT