SWITZERLAND – The Chinese food processing and trading firm, COFCO International has appointed Wei (David) Dong as Chief Executive Officer and to the board of the company effective immediately.

Dong succeeds Johnny Chi who will remain as chairman stationed at the company’s headquarters in Geneva.

Prior to his appointment, he was chairman of China Agri-Industries Holdings Limited (China Agri), publicly-traded company majority-owned by COFCO Corporation, engaged in producing and supplying processed agricultural products in Mainland China.

“David is an industry veteran and is already very familiar with COFCO Corporation and COFCO International.

I’m excited to bring on someone as experienced as David to the Company and take charge of its operation and management,” said Johnny Chi, COFCO International Chairman.

“He will surely lead the entire management team to success as we continue the evolution of COFCO International into a world-class agri-business and further enhance ties with COFCO Corporation’s Chinese businesses.”

He is a holder of a bachelor’s degree from Jilin University in Changchun, China and a doctorate degree in Economics from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics in Dalian, China.

Having 25 years of experience in senior leadership positions at several COFCO Corporation companies focused on oilseeds in China, the new chief executive befits to lead the agric based business.

His appointment follows that of Selina Yang as its new chief operating officer (COO) and other five new heads for grains and oilseeds who were named earlier last year.

The company whose businesses include oilseed, wineries, beverage, confectionery, wheat recently joined hands with ADM, Bunge, Cargill, and LDC to standardise data and digitise global agricultural shipping transactions.

The partnership focuses on developing technologies to automate grain and oilseed post-trade execution processes, significantly reducing costs and resources needed to move documents around the globe.

In February, COFCO offloaded its American seed business, Nidera Seeds to Syngenta