Call for Case Studies on China’s Health Food Market

Consuming a healthy diet plays a crucial role in a society with rapid urbanisation, increased accessibility to processed food and changing lifestyles that shift dietary patterns. Initiatives of the Chinese government to improve the health of China’s population were implemented with the Outline of Healthy China 2030 and National Nutrition Programme (2017 -2030), aiming at different aspects of improving health conditions through, for instance, improved food and drug safety, and therefore, provide opportunities for the Health Food Industry.

The EU SME Centre is in the process of updating one of its existing reports on this topic. Specifically, the report will provide an up-to-date overview of China’s Health Food market and the regulations relevant to the export of Nutritional or Dietary Supplements or Functional Health Food. The focus of the report will be on how to comply with relevant regulations such as the notification and/or registration with SAMR and the manufacturing facility registration with GACC (Decree 248/249) but is also covering the export via Cross-Border E-Commerce (CBEC).

For this reason, we are looking for EU SMEs, business organisations or agencies willing to share their experience and best practices in exporting Health Food to China. The objective is to provide insights to EU SMEs on the potential of this market, as well as practical guidance on what actions are required and what initiatives are possible to successfully export their products to China.

Structure of the case study:

The case study could be developed either as an interview with the EU SME Centre’s experts, or fully by the SME, business organisation or agency. We are looking for examples from different health food categories (e.g. nutritional/dietary supplements, or functional health food) and different export channels (CBEC vs. general trade). The structure and content of the case study are open and entirely based on your experience, but in general, could cover the following aspects:

• Your overall situation in/with China (company description and supportive actions for EU SMEs operating in the Health Food industry)
• General market overview – current challenges, especially for EU SMEs but also opportunities arising
• Overview of specific cases of preparing the export of Health Food Products to the Chinese market, including:
  • The right platform for each product: CBEC or general trade?Regulatory peculiarities, main challenges to overcomeNotification or registration with SAMR: Procedure, costs, timelineRegistration with GACC (Decree 248): Procedure, costs, timelineCBEC solution as first step into the marketCompliance with labelling requirementsMarketing or promotional campaigns – opportunities for EU SMEs using CBEC or general tradeCompetition with other foreign/local brandsWhat did (or can) go wrong, how to prevent mistakes
  • Future plans and outlook
• Key takeaways:
  • How to ensure compliance with China’s regulatory framework
  • How to enter and stay in the market
  • Cultural differences of Chinese consumers / features of the Chinese market

What’s in it for you:

• The case study will be included in the EU SME Centre’s updated report, with your visibility elements included. 
• We will invite you to present the case during an ad hoc webinar to be organised after the publication of the report. Other joint promotion or support activities can be discussed and organised.

Contact details:

Interested SMEs, business organisations and agencies may contact us at: arvid.tilner@eusmecentre.org.cn, alessio.petino@eusmecentre.org.cn