A delegation led by Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) departed for the US yesterday, where it plans to sign a US$3.6 billion deal in Washington to buy US soybeans, corn, wheat, beef and other agricultural products.
The council has carefully evaluated the nation’s market demands, and the deal would benefit Taiwan-US economic cooperation, Chen said.
The council sends a delegation to the US every two years to buy agricultural products and details of each deal are based on market demand and prices, but the quantity it plans to buy has increased this year, he said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Taiwanese farmers use domestic soybeans and corn for fresh feed and imported ones, which are less expensive, for dry feed, he said, which means the imports would not depress domestic prices.
Included in the deal would be exports of US-raised meat, especially beef, the demand for which is increasing every year, he said.
Taiwan is the eighth-largest importer of US agricultural products and an important trade partner to the US, he said.
“Undeniably, the US-China trade dispute has affected US agricultural exports, and the deal is beneficial not only to US farmers, but also to Taiwan, as our nation is now in a better bargaining position in terms of prices,” Chen said.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office said the nation is taking action to strengthen Taiwan-US trade and it wishes to be a reliable trade partner.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS