China cheese imports leap 47% in 2014

China’s appetite for cheese is growing rapidly, with cheese imports up 47% year-on-year during the first ten months of 2014, according to Chinese market research firm CCM. China imported 56,028 tonnes of cheese between January and October 2014, already far more than the 47,316 tonnes imported during the whole of 2013.

Moreover, this astonishing growth is likely to continue as Chinese consumers become increasingly affluent and cosmopolitan. Baidu.com – China’s most popular Internet search engine – has reported a 59.8% increase in searches for the word ‘cheese’ in the last three years, and dishes such as pizza, baked sweet potato with cheese and baked broccoli with cheese are becoming ever more popular.

The main beneficiaries of China’s newly-acquired taste for cheese so far have been New Zealand, Australia and the US, with Europe’s cheese makers trailing far behind.

New Zealand remains China’s preferred source of cheese – imports from New Zealand during January-October 2014 totaled 24,013 tonnes, a 44% increase over the same period in 2013. However, Australia is catching up fast – its total cheese exports to China rose 78% year-on-year to 15,189 tonnes – and its exports are likely to be boosted further in 2015 thanks to the newly-signed China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Imports from the US also increased, rising 27% year-on-year to 10,084 tonnes, but the US has now fallen decisively behind its Australasian rivals. New Zealand now exports more than twice as much cheese to China as the US, and the gap between Australia and the US has widened from 593 tonnes in 2013 to 5,105 tonnes in 2014.

China is steadily developing a taste for European cheese – imports from France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands all rose by 25% or more year-on-year – but in absolute terms this is a drop in the ocean. The total volume of imports from the top five European nations added up to just 4,696 tonnes, less than one fifth of the amount imported from New Zealand.

Europe’s relatively poor performance could be due to the fact that much of the demand in China is currently for foodservice and processed cheese, whereas many European cheese makers focus on higher-value products for retail.

China is currently importing cheese from the US, New Zealand and Australia at an average of US$4.71/kg (€3.98), $5.10/kg and $4.69/kg respectively, as opposed to $8.14/kg from France, $8.27/kg from Italy, and $8.51/kg from Denmark, which suggests that European suppliers are currently focusing on retail products.

In addition, US and Australasian suppliers hold strategic advantages over their European competitors, including New Zealand’s (and from 2015, Australia’s) superior market access due to its Free Trade Agreement with China, and lower freight costs for New Zealand, Australian, and West Coast US suppliers.