Romania to export a third of its dairy products to China, minister says

Romanian agriculture minister Florin Barbu announced the signing of a memorandum with China regarding the exporting of agri-food products. The new deal, agreed upon following bilateral discussions, will allow Romanian farmers to export dairy products, chicken meat, and other products.

“Contracts are signed and, after the signing of the memorandum in China, it will be for the first time that Romanian farmers will export agri-food products to China,” the minister said, as reported by News.ro.

He specified that the agri-food products made by Romanian processors have the cleanest label in the European Union.

“This made the Chinese side choose these Romanian products, which will start, beginning next week, to be exported to China. It is a very important market for our producers and farmers,” the minister added.

According to the official, over 30% of dairy products from Romania will go to China. The large orders will be worth billions of euros, he said.

The minister will soon make a visit to China. “We will continue to discuss the exporting of pork and pork meat products and cereals, our strong point,” Barbu said during the interview on Agro TV.

The People’s Republic of China was Romania’s second-largest non-EU trading partner, after Turkey, in 2024. The volume of trade between Romania and China was almost USD 9.3 billion that year, according to official statistics.

Trade between the two, however, is not balanced. Romania registered a USD 7.7 billion deficit with China, and a USD 2.1 billion deficit in the first quarter of 2025 as well.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)