China market still sluggish for Central and Eastern European goods

Despite Beijing’s efforts to boost imports from countries in the 17+1 framework demand from Chinese consumers remains low

A trade expo aimed at showing China’s commitment to the region fails to quell frustration over the slow rate of progress

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The China-Central and Eastern European Countries Expo in the southern port city of Ningbo was created to increase trade in services and consumer goods. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:30pm, 20 Jun 2021Updated: 11:30pm, 20 Jun 2021

“Once you have tried it, you will know how good it is,” the Chinese live stream host said repeatedly, as she promoted Bulgarian rose tea, Hungarian dessert wine and Latvian body scrubs to tens of thousands of customers in China watching on an e-commerce platform.

The live stream was a highlight of last week’s trade expo in China’s southern port city of Ningbo, the trade gateway for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The problem for the participating diplomats and businesspeople was that few Chinese consumers have tried their products, which are still hardly available in the country.

The show – a repeat of a similar event in 2019 – was the latest attempt by Beijing to show its determination to uphold a promise to boost imports from the region under the China and CEE countries cooperation mechanism, often referred to as 17+1.

Live-streamers promote products from Central and Eastern European countries to Chinese consumers at the trade expo in Ningbo. Photo: Xinhua

Not on show, however, was the frustration of some of these European countries at the difficulties in accessing the Chinese market, which officials and academics in China expect to continue, despite Beijing identifying market access as the key to boosting its relations with CEE countries.

Since Lithuania pulled out of the 17+1 framework last month, there have been questions about the continuing relevance of China’s nine-year attempt to build trade relations with the region, as the promised floods of investment and boosted imports have failed to materialise.

Diana Mickeviciene, the Lithuanian ambassador to China, explained the decision, saying access to the Chinese market had not improved and the trade imbalance was only growing, nearly a decade after joining the framework.

The Baltic country was not the only one to voice frustration. Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia, along with Lithuania, all sent lower-level envoys to President Xi Jinping’s annual 17+1 meeting in February – held virtually this year. It was a step largely understood to be snubbing the mechanism and expressing disappointment with working with China.

At the summit, Xi pledged that China would import more than US$170 billion worth of goods from the region in the next five years, doubling its purchases of agricultural products.