Taiwanese Goodwill Mission Commits to Purchasing $1.23 Billion Worth of Coarse Grains

The U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) Taiwan office organized an eight-member U.S. grain production and quality study team to join the 2015 U.S.-Taiwan Goodwill Mission, which traveled to the United States in September 2015. The Council invested about $60,000 of Market Access Program (MAP) funds in organizing this team, and the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan used about $75,000 for sponsoring 10 members for participating in this mission.

The corn and soybean members of this Goodwill Mission signed letters of intent in Washington, D.C., at U.S. Capitol on Sept. 16, 2015. These letters are a commitment by the Taiwanese industry to purchase 5 million metric tons (197 million bushels) of corn and 0.5 million metric tons of corn products over a two-year period. The value of this purchase commitment is estimated to be about $1.23 billion.

This group also visited Washington, D.C., Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Kentucky. While in the United States, the mission visited the Council’s headquarters, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the American Institute in Taiwan, three Senators (Steve Daines, R-Mont.; Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; and Pat Roberts, R-Kan.) and met with representatives of U.S. Wheat Associates, the U.S. Soybean Export Council, the North American Export Grain Association and the National Grain and Feed Association.

This mission convinced the mission members that the quality of U.S. corn in the 2015 crop year was good and capability of the U.S. to supply exports is robust. The mission members expressed confidence after the visits in buying and using more U.S. corn and corn products.