Food Safety & Business in China: The Big Risk, The Big Unknown
Speaker Series: Nick Rosa, Head, Continental Grain Asia
Cocktail, Friday Evening, 26 June 2015, 18:30-20:30 pm, Club Lusitano
How a Global Agribusiness in China since the Deng Reforms Views the Current Risks & Opportunities
Event Details:
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong is pleased to invite you to an evening of cocktails canapés with Nick Rosa, President, Continental Capital Ltd. & MD/SVP Continental Grain Company Asia. We are very grateful to Edan Lee of Olympus Capital for helping make this event possible.
Continental Grain Company, established in 1813 as a grain trading firm, is one of the world’s the largest privately held companies. The Group was one of the earliest int’l pioneers in the China food and agriculture sector, beginning with its 1979 opening of China’s first foreign-owned feed mill in JV with Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand. Today in China, after more than 3 decades, through ContiAsia, the Company manages 30 wholly owned and joint venture companies functioning as four separate business units: Continental Capital, ContiFeed Group, Conti Chia Tai International, and Hong Wai Foods.
In the past 10 years, China has taken important steps to improve food safety, with the country’s first food safety law being implemented in 2009 and with regular testing covering 150 cities (out of more than 650).
Yet while China is the world’s largest agricultural nation, the sector faces stiff challenges, not just with regard to food safety, but also the related challenges of scarce arable land (only 9% of total supply and under further pressure from urbanization and overexploitation) and the existing distribution supply chain (including sufficient specialized warehouses, adequate cold storage facilities, etc) and consumer behavior.
How does a company such as ContiGroup/Continental Grain see these challenges and related opportunities?
The Company’s own experience is instructive, having initially entered the Shenzhen SEZ when first opened, operating in the pig and chicken feed industries, but then losing ground to local producers with better connections, but who produced lower quality, cheaper products.
Today, consumers question more what goes in their food and quick to react to food scares, but are they ready to pay for greater trust and safety? We look forward to Nick’s insights and thoughts on these critical questions facing China and its consumers.
Speaker’s Bio:
NICK ROSA has been actively engaged in the agricultural industry for 40 years. Since June 2007, Nick has served Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Continental Grain Company-Asia, located in Beijing, China and as well as President of Continental Capital Ltd, based in Hong Kong, part of the Continental Grain Company. In parallel, Nick also holds the positions of Chairman of Conti Chia Tai International Limited, non-executive Director of DaChan Food (Asia) Limited (Hong Kong listed), Senior Advisor to Olympus Capital Holdings Asia and serves on the Investment Committees for Continental Capital.
He first joined Continental Grain Company in 1975 as a trainee the animal feed division, assumed a variety of positions and eventually became General Manager of the Wayne Feed Division in Chicago, Illinois. He served as the Vice President of International Industries of Continental Grain Company in New York since 1997, which included assignments in Eastern Europe, Latin American and Asia. Nick is a past Director and member of the Executive Committee of the American Feed Industry Association and has served as Chairman and/or Director in poultry, pork and feed companies in Eastern Europe and South America.
Nick received his Bachelor Degree in Economics in 1974 and his Master Degree in Business Administration in 1975, both from the Arizona State University.