(Photo courtesy Iowa Corn Promotion Board)
(Des Moines) A trade team from the Taiwan Feed Industry Association signed a letter of intent in Des Moines today (Friday) to buy more than $2 billion worth of U.S. corn and soybeans between 2018 and 2019.
The deal includes five million metric tons of corn and a half million metric tons of distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) between 2018 and 2019. The estimated value of these future purchases is $1.05 billion.
"Taiwan is an important buyer of U.S. corn and co-products," said ICPB Director Mark Heckman, a farmer from West Liberty. "By having this Goodwill Mission in our state, we are strengthening trade ties and helping to maintain the well-established partnership between the United States and Taiwan. Trade matters to our economy and to U.S. farmers who need access to global markets to maintain and expand exports of corn in all forms."
Taiwan imported more than 2 million metric tons (80.2 million bushels) of U.S. corn in marketing year 2015/2016, nearly 40 percent of total market share. Taiwan is the sixth largest U.S. corn market.
Taiwan also serves as a key buyer of U.S. DDGS, a co-product of ethanol production used as a feed ingredient for livestock.
The agreement also includes between 96-107 million bushels of soybeans, with an estimated value of $1.1 billion.