The supply and wholesale prices of soybeans and corn would remain stable until August, despite escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday.
As Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and corn, a conflict between them could disrupt global grain supplies and cause wholesale prices to fluctuate.
Since before the Lunar New Year holiday, the council had been asked to ensure that Taiwan would have adequate supplies of soybeans and corn until August, Chen told reporters on the sidelines of the Integrated Pest Management award ceremony in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The council has been closely monitoring soybean and corn stocks, and orders placed by grain wholesalers, he said.
“Following an assessment, we have ascertained that supplies of soybeans and corn — two main ingredients of animal feed — would continue without any problems in the next six months,” Chen said. “Animal feed prices are expected to remain stable, as soybean and corn prices have reached their peak and grain wholesalers have placed orders ahead of time. We are to make related information available to livestock and poultry farmers, so that retail prices remain stable as well.”
The council is also raising the domestic production of flint corn to 180,000 tonnes this year, he said.
As the shipment of forage grass has been significantly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising shipping costs, the government is expanding the planting area of hulless barley so that dairy cows would have a steadier supply of feed, he said.
The council is working with Taiwan Sugar Corp to build a warehouse that can accommodate at least 60,000 tonnes of soybeans, wheat or corn, he added.
The government is to waive a 5 percent business tax for importers of soybeans, corn and wheat until April 30, which would help reduce feed prices by NT$0.6 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, the supply of eggs is expected to greatly improve next month as temperatures rise and egg imports increase, Chen said.
Imported eggs are to gradually arrive until the end of next month, including 3 million eggs from Japan, 2 million from Australia and 1 million from the US, he said.
The Food and Drug Administration allows eggs imports only from these three countries, Chen said, adding that the imported eggs would mainly be used for processed food production.
Eggs being imported from Japan are produced at a farm in Mie Prefecture, Kansai region, which is at least 150km away from avian flu-affected areas, he said.
The Japanese government ensures that eggs exported to other nations meet all inspection and quarantine requirements, he added.
“We have been asking processed food manufacturers for help increase the retail egg supply since before the Lunar New Year holiday. Of the 23 million to 24 million eggs that the nation needs daily, 10 to 15 percent are used to produce processed food. As such, imported eggs would be directly delivered to processed food manufacturers,” he said.
The nation produces 21.4 million eggs per day and has a daily shortfall of 1.4 million eggs, Poultry Association data showed.
The council attributed the low production rate to low temperatures, which have caused more egg-laying chicken to die or become sick.
To stabilize the egg supply and retail prices, the council earlier this month raised the retail price off eggs from NT$34.5 per 600g to NT$36.5.
Since Feb. 8, egg farmers have been given a subsidy of NT$3 for every 600g of eggs produced, as well as NT$25 per egg-laying chicken to counter the effects of rising feed prices.
As the weather is expected to become warmer in the first half of next month, domestic egg production is expected to return to normal in the second half of next month, the council said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS