ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US — US Wheat Associates (USW) has hired Yi-I Huang as country director for Taiwan, succeeding Boyuan Chen who plans to retire in September.

“Working with Boyuan Chen the past seven years, we have come to rely on his steady disposition and solid leadership,” said Jeff Coey, USW regional vice president. “He has been a good ambassador for US wheat and the farmers we represent in Taiwan. His retirement comes sooner than we expected, but we wish him health and happiness.

“At the same time, we are excited to welcome Yi-I Huang to our team in the important Taiwanese market.”

Huang comes to USW after a 14-year career in grain merchandizing at Mitsui & Company, at both the company’s Taipei and Tokyo offices. Mitsui is the parent company of United Grain Corp., Vancouver, Washington, US, which is a major grain supplier to several Asian markets.

In addition to his professional experience, Huang is fluent in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Japanese, and English. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture from National Taiwan University in Taipei, and he participated in an international exchange program at Keio University of Tokyo, Japan.

USW has maintained an office in Taipei for more than 50 years, with strong demand for US hard red spring, soft white, and hard red winter wheat from Taiwan’s milling and baking industries. Taiwan has imported an average of more than 1.2 million tonnes of US wheat per year the past five years. US wheat sales to Taiwan in the first two months of marketing year 2023-24 have already reached 452,000 tonnes.