Lu Selected By Taiwan’s Agriculture Minister To Participate In Food Security Conference

Taiwan’s COA Minister Dr. Chen Chi Chung invited only 10 consultants to participate in the conference, including Michael Lu, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) director in Taiwan. The invitees were asked to share their opinions and suggestions as they relate to the Taiwanese government’s response to food security.

Lu reinforced the reliability of the U.S. supply chain, showing sufficient supply for Taiwanese demand when commenting on market perspectives.

“Due to world events, at present, ensuring quantity is an important issue, and Taiwan’s inventory utilization ratio is only about four percent, which is relatively low compared to those major countries,” Lu said. “It is necessary to accelerate the procurement progress, and the United States is a stable source of global food supply.”

Lu also suggested the government establish a carbon emission and carbon trading mechanism according to the carbon intensity of grains and oilseeds produced in different origins, which can effectively reach the target of net zero carbon emissions in Taiwan’s agricultural industry.

Per COA’s market study, in 2021 the World Bank’s commodity price index increased across the board, with fertilizers increasing by 58.96 percent, followed by energy increasing by 42.57 percent, metals and minerals by about 37.3 percent and grains by about 28.72 percent. The global commodity prices fluctuated seven times since 1960, mainly due to energy shortages and abnormal climates that led to food production reductions. Additionally, COVID-19 also caused changes in the global supply chain, while the recent Ukrainian-Russian war is currently impacting the international supply of agriculture commodities.

“Dr. Chen Chi Chung, minister of COA, appreciated all the comments from the experts and industry leaders in attendance,” Lu said. “COA will consolidate those suggestions to generate a strategy to ensure food security in the areas of stocks/use ratio maintenance; pipeline and inventory management; diversification of substitute feed ingredients; financial and price risk management; innovation of animal nutrition application; and domestic farmland policy to increase the food sufficiency rate. He expressed the most important task of the COA is to ensure sufficient supply because food security is a national security issue.”