Catalonia is strengthening the international promotion of its cured meats and charcuterie products in Asia. The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Government of Catalonia, Òscar Ordeig, has inaugurated a professional tasting session in Beijing, marking the launch in China of the European campaign The Creative Revolution: European Wines and Charcuterie (CREWAS).
The event brought together importers, distributors, Horeca professionals, opinion leaders and specialised media, who were presented with a selection of Catalan wines with designation of origin alongside a representative sample of Catalan cured meats and charcuterie products.
The initiative aims to strengthen the positioning of these products in a market considered strategic and to generate new business opportunities for Catalan companies.
Led by Prodeca and co-financed by the European Union, CREWAS has a budget of nearly €3 million and will run from October 2026 to October 2029. In addition to China, the campaign will also be implemented in Japan and Korea.
According to Òscar Ordeig, the initiative will enable an intensive campaign aimed particularly at importers and distributors and will promote the values of the Mediterranean diet, as well as the origin and production processes of high-quality, high-value-added gourmet products.
New opportunities for the Catalan meat sector
One of CREWAS’s objectives is to position Catalan cured meats and charcuterie products as benchmarks for quality, authenticity, innovation and sustainability, while facilitating companies’ access to Asian markets with high commercial potential.
The launch of the campaign forms part of the institutional visit that the Minister of Agriculture is carrying out in China, combining the promotion of Catalan agri-food products with institutional meetings and actions aimed at strengthening commercial, scientific and technological cooperation.
The Catalan delegation has held talks with the authorities of Hainan province to follow up on existing agreements and explore new ways to facilitate access to and consolidate the presence of Catalan agri-food products in China.
The activities carried out include a visit to the Haikou Integrated Free Trade Zone, one of the main logistics and commercial platforms in southern China and a strategic hub due to its connections with major international shipping routes.
The agenda also includes business and commercial meetings aimed at exploring new channels for the promotion and marketing of Catalan products in the Chinese market.
Meat and cured meats lead agri-food trade with China
China is one of the priority markets for the Catalan agri-food sector. According to data released by the Government of Catalonia, Catalan companies currently export agri-food products to China worth more than €655 million per year.
A total of 312 Catalan agri-food companies currently export to China, 123 of them on a regular basis. Between 2015 and 2025, Catalan agri-food exports to the Chinese market increased by 153.8%.
The meat sector plays a particularly significant role in this trade. Meat and cured meats continue to be the main driver of Catalan agri-food exports to China, with a trade surplus of nearly €485 million.
These figures highlight the importance of the Chinese market for the sector and the potential of international promotion initiatives such as CREWAS to strengthen the positioning and competitiveness of Catalan meat and charcuterie products in Asia.
Source: Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya).
