The United States exported about US$2.4 billion worth of agricultural products in 2001 to Taiwan, from basic items such as soybeans, wheat, fruit, vegetables, cotton, and lumber to processed food and engineered wood products. The US is Taiwan's single most important supplier of agricultural products, supplying more than 1/3 of Taiwan's total agricultural imports (US$6.8 billion in 2001). The high value of this trade places Taiwan as the US's 6th most important export market for agricultural products after Japan, Canada, Mexico, China, and South Korea.
Everyday, Taiwanese eat and wear products made from US agricultural crops. Nearly all wheat and soybeans, used to make fresh bread, tofu, steamed buns, and an endless variety of other traditional dishes, are imported from the US. Also, almost all the corn used as livestock feed and 1/4 of raw cotton used by Taiwan's textile manufacturers is grown in the US too. These and other commodity-type agricultural products account for 50 percent of Taiwan's agricultural imports from the US.
Retail-ready products, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, meat, seafood, and processed foods, account for another 30 percent of total US agricultural exports to Taiwan, while food ingredients and semi-processed foods account for the remaining 20 percent.
During 2001, Taiwan exported US$376 million in agricultural products to the US. Principal products included consumer-ready foods, wood products, and fish and seafood. Agricultural trade is a two-way partnership for the US and Taiwan. In general, Taiwan imports goods requiring cooler temperatures and large land areas to produce from the US, and the US relies on Taiwan for certain subtropical products as well as high-quality processed ethnic Chinese foods and ingredients.
Now a member of the WTO, Taiwan is both committed to further opening its markets to agriculture imports and can look forward to greater access for its products overseas. Taiwan consumers are the clear winners with Taiwan's WTO membership. Import tariffs have dropped on agricultural goods from an average of 22 percent in 2000 to 14 percent currently.
In addition, Taiwan restrictions on the import of key products, from apples, pears, and potatoes to wine, rice, and poultry have been relaxed, or eliminated altogether.
Greater competition for business means more choices and better service for distributors and consumers in Taiwan. The US is expected to remain Taiwan's number one source of supply for key agricultural commodities, while taking advantage of new opportunities under the WTO to increase exports of value-added products.
Lower tariffs, an increasingly cosmopolitan consumer base, and a long history of good trading relations augur that the best is yet to come in US - Taiwan agricultural trade.
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