Netherlands' firm Louis Dreyfus to introduce new products at CIIE

To further tap into the vast consumer market in China and strengthen its global supply chain, multinational agricultural trader and processor Louis Dreyfus Co will debut at this year's China International Import Expo its instant coffee to its Chinese consumers and a series of its latest feed products.

Michael Gelchie, CEO of the Netherlands-based company, shared the above information during an interview on Tuesday, one day prior to the 8th CIIE to be held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10.

Confident that the Chinese consumer market will grow "exponentially" in the next decade, the company not only positions itself as an international supplier of commodities to the Chinese market, but also aims to play a bigger role in China both in terms of food and feed supplies, he said.

The company will move further downstream along the industrial chain in China, given the country's continued opening-up in the seed industry, diversifying sources of agricultural imports, and the maturity of the middle-income group. The consumer goods sector serves as an important part to diversify the company's income sources, which will be further supported by China's stress on increasing the supply of quality consumer goods, said Gelchie.

The company has been accelerating its development in China in recent years. It inaugurated a new specialty feed protein production line in Tianjin on Sunday, the company's first of its kind on a commercial scale. Its new food technology park in Qingdao of Shandong province, which began construction in June, will go operational in 2027.

The company set up its regional headquarters in Shanghai in 2021 and a global research and development center in the city two years later. Leveraging the free trade account mechanism in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, the company plans to improve the financing and risk management capacities of the Shanghai operation, according to Jerrity Chen, head of the company's North Asia division.

"We have been in China for over 50 years. In many respects, we feel that we are a local company as well," said Gelchie.

This marks the third time that Gelchie has been to the CIIE, which has impressed him with the advancements in electric vehicles over the past editions. Checking the technology innovations occurring in China via the exhibition can help the company to reflect on how they can apply the innovations to their own business, "not only in China but more globally", he said.