By: Clover Chang, U.S. Grains Council Director of Taiwan

The U.S. Grains Council is working to sustain demand and market share for U.S. coarse grains and co-product imports in the important yet mature market of Taiwan.

Beginning Aug. 11, the Council hosted a team of Taiwanese livestock and poultry producers to the United States to learn about the advantages of using U.S. coarse grains and co-products by experiencing first-hand the U.S. feed grain production system. The team was comprised of feed mill technicians, livestock- and poultry-industry leaders and government officials.

Through visits to representative farms and export facilities in Nebraska, Iowa and Louisiana, the team became familiar with the research, production, inspection, quality, marketing and transportation of U.S. coarse grains.

From U.S. corn producers, the team learned about technologies like GPS, precision planting and no-till farming, that producers are utilizing to increase yields, be better stewards of the land and grow a high-quality product available for export. While on the farm, the team saw the abundant, high-quality corn that the United States is growing for the 2014/2015 marketing year, improving the team members’ confidence in the United States’ ability to meet their demand.

The team also traveled to ethanol plants where they gained first-hand knowledge about the production and quality of low-oil distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS). The U.S. ethanol industry has been utilizing corn oil extraction equipment, which removes a portion of the non-food grade corn oil in DDGS during the ethanol production process, making the oil available for other use. Seeing that process as well as tests performed at ethanol plants for both mycotoxins in corn and DDGS improved the Taiwanese end-users understanding of U.S. DDGS.

From these meetings, this team gained confidence in purchasing and using U.S. corn and DDGS. However, the work is never done. The Council will continue to be actively involved in every area of demand, trade, policy and marketing within Taiwan as the trade environment and market demand continues to evolve.

Click here to view more photos from this team’s visit to the United States.