Taiwan importers agree to buy $3 billion of US grain, soya through 2017

A delegation of Taiwanese importers signed agreements with representatives of the US grain industry this week to buy about $3 billion worth of US-grown crops through 2017, US industry organisations said on Thursday. Representatives from the Taiwan Vegetable Oil Manufacturers Association, Taiwan Feed Industry Association and others signed the letters of intent in a ceremony in Washington, DC, on Wednesday before travelling to key farm states.
The deals signed during the biennial Agricultural Trade Goodwill Mission are not binding purchase agreements but instead political gestures between the world's top crop exporter and one of its top buyers. Still, the signings are expected to become binding purchases eventually. Taiwan was the sixth largest customer of US corn and soyabeans in the most recent marketing year and the seventh largest US wheat buyer, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
The visiting delegation agreed to buy about 5 million tonnes of corn and 500,000 tonnes of corn co-products such as distillers dried grains, a livestock feed, valued at around $1.23 billion, the US Grains Council said in a release. The volume suggested Taiwan's purchases of US corn over the next two seasons could be among their largest in at least four years. The delegation's purchase agreements also included 1.7 million tonnes of US wheat valued at $544 million, said Amanda Spoo, spokeswoman for US Wheat Associates, a trade development organisation.