(Ninth China International Import Expo) Louis Dreyfus Global CEO: Being close to the Chinese market can identify new needs earlier

China News Service, Shanghai, November 9 (Tao Siyue) "Consumer demand, production models and application scenarios in the Chinese market are all changing rapidly." Michael Gelchie, global CEO of Louis Dreyfus, said, "As an agricultural products trading and processing company headquartered in the Netherlands, it is very important to be close to such a market, which can help us discover new needs earlier."

Gao Qi said in an interview during the 9th China International Import Expo, "Our goal is to innovate in China, verify it in the Chinese market, and bring the most valuable solutions to customers in China and even around the world."

He introduced that Louis Dreyfus currently has more than ten offices and industrial processing facilities in China, and its business covers global procurement, domestic trade, oilseed and oil processing, logistics, risk management, product customization solutions and research and development and other fields.

From the perspective of regional layout, he believes that there are synergistic effects between different areas and facilities. On the one hand, it connects the Chinese market with the diversified global supply chain through coastal gateways and processing bases; on the other hand, it is close to China's major consumer markets and manufacturing clusters in order to respond to customer needs in a more timely and efficient manner.

He has observed in the Chinese market that consumer insights and scientific research innovation can be quickly transformed into scalable solutions. At the same time, China's local innovations have more and more opportunities to enter the global market.

Looking to the future, Gao Qi believes that there are several structural trends that will continue to affect the development of the agriculture and food industry. The first is that food security and supply chain resilience are still the foundation for industry development; the second is that market demand is further shifting from "quantity" to "quality", and consumers are increasingly paying attention to nutrition, health, safety, functionality and sustainability; the third is the integration innovation between different technologies, life sciences, advanced processing technology and digitalization are closely integrated to accelerate the research and development of new products.

"For Louis Dreyfus, these trends have further clarified our development direction." Gao Qi said that we must continue to leverage the breadth and resilience of the group's global network, and we must also get closer to the local market and build more professional capabilities.

"In order to achieve development goals, a platform like the CIIE is very valuable to us." Gao Qi said that at the CIIE, we can listen to the market, deepen cooperation, and then truly transform these market observations into actions and value.