Taiwan is going to purchase Illinois corn and soybeans in 2016 and 2017.
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At the signing ceremony with Illinois held earlier this week, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner expressed his gratitude to Taiwan for the purchases. “We look forward to a long, continued relationship with our friends from Taiwan so that together we can help feed the world”, Rauner said in a statement.
Chen-taung Wang, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Council of Agriculture, told the small crowd gathered that the Taiwan Vegetable Oil Manufacturers Association plans to buy between 96 and 107 million bushels of soybeans over the two-year period from the United States.
Taiwan is Minnesota’s sixth largest export market and vital partner for the state’s corn and soybean farmers. “As of 2014, Taiwan was the seventh-largest market for USA agricultural products worldwide, making it one of the world’s largest consumers of US farm goods on a per-capita basis”.
“Our friendship and relationship with you is very important to Illinois farmers”, Nelson said. “Today’s signing ceremony represents the next step in this growing partnership”.
“As a southern Illinois corn farmer, we value our quality as they do up in northern Illinois”. “Of course we’re looking to expand our export markets”. Based on conditions as of September 1, corn yields are forecast to average 148 bushels per acre, unchanged from the average a year ago; the harvest area for grain corn is forecast at 670,000 acres, down 1 percent.
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An Illinois Department of Agriculture-led tour begins September 21, with stops at a variety of grain-related businesses around the state, including Marquis Energy LLC, a 140 MMgy ethanol plant in Hennepin, Illinois, and Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s facility in Decatur, Illinois, which produces ethanol, among many other products. Additionally, corn production ranked second in the nation at 2.35 billion bushels, topping the previous record of 2.28 billion bushels in 2007.
