Telemea de Sibiu has received further international recognition, having been chosen among the top ten most representative products of protected geographical indication (PGI) in Europe and China, at the Global Exhibition of Geographical Indications Products (GIPE 2025) in Beijing, and rewarded for its special quality and authenticity worldwide.

'We came to Beijing with our product, Telemea de Sibiu, protected at European level, a natural product, made from unpasteurised sheep's milk, which also won an award. We came to present our products, and we hope to be able to enter the Chinese market as well. Their tastes in cheese are a little different from ours: some said it was a bit salty, but many liked it. We can also come up with alternatives. I didn't know exactly what is required here, but we can make a less salty cheese, telemea or hard yellow cheese. We have already been contacted by various companies, many of them having collaborations with companies that bring Romanian wine to the Chinese market, and which have now shown interest in our products as well,' Florin Dragomir, chairman of the Association of Telemea de Sibiu Producers, told AGERPRES.

In addition to Telemea de Sibiu, other Romanian PGI products were promoted at the fair, such as plum jam, Dobrogean pie, tuica, various assortments of Sibiu salami already recognised at European level, smoked Danube shad, marinated sardines, pike roe and carp roe dip, Telemea de Ibanesti, Plescoi sausages, along with some products in the process of wining PGI status, including stockfish and Teaca cheese.

The Alexandrion group also attended the event in an attempt to enter the Chinese market. 'We are not yet on the Chinese market. There are opportunities, it's a new market. I was very happy about the interest in Romanian products. We are an important market player, both in Europe and elsewhere in the world, and we are proud to be able to represent Romania here. The Chinese were pleasantly surprised, because they knew that whiskey is traditionally produced in Great Britain, Scotland, America or Japan. But they were pleasantly impressed by both the product and the story behind it. I also met Chinese people who studied in Romania, they speak Romanian very well and I think this is a solid bridge that we will strengthen for a future partnership,' said Dorin Imo, brand manager.

The international exhibition would not be complete without wines, represented by a producer from Prahova, and also by an entrepreneur who has been importing Romanian wines for several years to trade them in China.

'We have been conducting a campaign in China for ten years, in which the basic product is wine from Domeniile Panciu, but now we also have wines from Moldova, Hungary, Italy. We broadened our selection: we didn't have a lot of merchandise, and sales were not very good, because Romanian wine is not sufficiently known here. Over the years, we have created a circle of customers who buy and appreciate the local varieties very much. They don't want to buy Cabernet Sauvignon from Romania, but prefer Babeasca, Feteasca, Busuioaca. In general, the female target audience buys sweet and semi-sweet, white and rose wines, while men buy dry wines, as full-bodied as possible and as strong as possible, usually red. Before the pandemic we sold relatively well. Three years after opening, we had reached almost a million dollar. After the pandemic, however, a great decline followed. In general, the market has fallen by a third, but in our country the decline has been even more pronounced. After the pandemic, the Chinese have changed their consumption habits: they buy less, the bare necessities, they avoid expensive products. And Romanian wine, compared to wines from other European countries (France, Italy), is relatively expensive,' said entrepreneur Gabriel Jelea.

Protected Geographical Indication can bring producers multiple advantages: quality certification, recognition of the intellectual property right over name, subsidised promotion at national and international fairs and access to European programmes dedicated to promotion.

Currently, about 30 Romanian products are recognised or in the process of being recognised as PGI products at the level of the European Union. Of the food products, 14 are already recognised, six are at various stages of analysis at the European Commission, and another nine applications, most of them for products from the Bihor area, are under consideration at the Ministry of Agriculture, according to the ministry's representatives. Nine spirits are also recognised at European level, and another product is to be recognised soon.

However, the recognition and attribution of product quality with PGI can be a long process. The shortest time to recognise a product was one year and two months, while the longest took over five years.

GIPE 2025 took place between September 19-21, 2025, at the Beijing International Exhibition and Convention Center. The event was part of the implementation of the EU-China Agreement on Cooperation and Protection of Geographical Indications and is an international platform for trade cooperation, technology exchange, cultural integration and investment in Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) products between China and global partners. This year, the event brought together over 300 companies from all over the world that produce and promote agri-food products included in European and national quality schemes. AGERPRES (RO - editing by: Dana Lepadatu; EN - writing by: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu)