Macau, China, Oct. 23, 2025 (Lusa) - PortugalFoods has signed an agreement with Tmall to have "a strong Portuguese presence" on one of China's largest e-commerce platforms, the head of the agri-food industry association revealed on Thursday.
The executive director of PortugalFoods considers the cooperation protocol signed during the 2nd China-Portuguese Language Countries Economic and Trade Exhibition (C-PLPEX) in Macau to be "extremely interesting".
"Our goal is to start working on establishing - I won't say a shop - but a strong Portuguese presence on this platform," explained Deolinda Silva.
"It's not easy, but they are there ready to help us, and we are also gaining more and more knowledge about the challenge that awaits us," said the executive director.
The cooperation starts today, with a presentation of the products of PortugalFoods' member companies to Chinese companies "from a wide range of categories," Silva revealed.
The association brought products from 12 companies to C-PLPEX, but has more than 200 members, including companies, scientific and agri-food entities, and other related activities.
The presentation is part of Tmall's strategy to promote Portuguese agri-food products "in an aggregated way, to gain some scale," explained the executive director of PortugalFoods.
"The work that needs to be done with these Chinese partners is immense, because there is practically no presence of Portuguese products," lamented Silva.
The first contact with Tmall took place during the 2024 edition of the FHC Shanghai Global Food Trade Show, a food fair in Shanghai, China's financial capital.
PortugalFoods will participate in this fair again, between 12 and 14 November, to "better understand the potential that exists for creating partnerships" to find future buyers, said the executive director.
China "is a market with enormous potential, but it must be worked on in stages and by region," said Silva, who pointed to southern China as a priority.
According to figures released by PortugalFoods, Portuguese agri-food exports reached €10 billion in 2024, an increase of 8.5% over the previous year.
The figures for 2025 are not yet finalised, but the association anticipates growth, albeit more modest than last year.
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