Council Leaders Attend China International Import Expo, Meet With Top Officials

Last week, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) leaders traveled to Beijing and Shanghai, China to represent the organization at the Seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE) and meet with high-level industry stakeholders to maintain strong ties with one of U.S. agriculture’s most important trading partners.

USGC President and CEO Ryan LeGrand and USGC Chairwoman Verity Ulibarri joined Council staff based in its Beijing office, including USGC Director in China Manuel Sanchez; USGC Program Manager Ellie Yan; USGC Livestock Sector Advisor Brian Wang; USGC Marketing Specialist Xiaoming Wang; and USGC Senior Program Coordinator Linda Li.

“As the world’s second-largest economy, China is a massive import market and has shown an especially strong appetite for international trade over the past several years,” LeGrand said. “That all adds up to an incredible opportunity for U.S. agriculture to keep driving sales to China as consumer demand for higher-quality food options continues to rapidly rise.”

The group welcomed guests at CIIE in the Council’s booth, where attendees learned about the quality, availability and affordability of U.S. agricultural products. Staff also met with officials from Chinese trading companies to learn about their needs and establish contacts to set up future networking opportunities with U.S. producers. Additionally, the Council’s delegation witnessed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveil its American Food and Agriculture Pavilion. This year, 14 exhibitors representing 31 organizations, including U.S. industry associations, state governments and major companies participated in the pavilion, showcasing the best of American agricultural products.

The Council also jointly organized the U.S.-China Agricultural Trade Cooperation Forum with USSEC and the China Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce & Animal By-Products (CFNA) on the sidelines of CIIE to further develop partnerships to enable agricultural trade between the two countries.

The team then traveled to Beijing, where they met with U.S. Embassy officials during a meeting organized by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) office in the city. U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was present and discussions centered around the importance of Agricultural trade between the U.S. and China relations.

Learn more about the Council’s work in China here.