Farmed Scottish salmon is set to get a special spotlight in China under a Beijing-Brussels deal that will also see Chinese crayfish registered in the European Union’s register of key geographical indications (GI).
An agreement signed earlier this month by officials from the two sides brings to fruition a Sino-European pilot project through which 10 Chinese food product names will soon be protected in the E.U.'s GI register. In return, Scottish salmon and nine other renowned European gourmet names will be registered in the official Chinese GI register, starting in January 2017.
The deal will give a boost to Scottish salmon, which competes with Chilean and Norwegian product in China (though significant Scottish output is Norwegian owned).
Beijing and Brussels trade officials have been working out GI issues as part of what has been termed the "10 plus 10 project," launched nearly 10 years ago. In 2007, the E.U. and China formally lodged applications for the protection of 10 agriculture GIs in each other’s' territories. European food makers have been keen to protect naming of premium food products in order to cash in on the booming Chinese market.
Likewise Chinese seafood producers have been keen to promote GI indicators as a means of adding premium pricing on products popular on the domestic market, such as crayfish and croaker. Chinese agriculture officials are keen to promote GI as a marketing tool to improve the image and value of Chinese food products both at home and abroad. The system of GI marks is overseen in China by the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) which also polices Chinese seafood export quality.
In addition to Scottish salmon, the E.U. list to be registered by AQSIQ from January 2017 includes Prosciutto di Parma (ham) and Roquefort (cheese). On the Chinese side, Yancheng Long Xia – a local crayfish farmed in the lake area of Yancheng on China's east coast – will be registered on the E.U. list, along with ginger, vinegar and vermicelli from certain Chinese regions.
GIs offer valuable protection to food producers from well-branded appellations. One famous example is that of champagne – the name can only be applied to products originating in the Champagne region of France. Italy is the leading claimant for E.U. “geographical indications” (GI) codes, with 924 protected GIs. Those include Protected Designation of Origin and the slightly less strict Protected Geographical Indication marks. Second to Italy is France, with 754 GIs, while Spain is third with 361 GIs.
