Taiwan is allowed to import corn and soybean meal from mainland China, with few expected quantities

Introduction: new page 1 according to Taiwan officials on Thursday, Taiwan will temporarily lift the ban on the import of corn and soybean meal from the mainland in order to reduce the cost of livestock farmers on the island in the event of rising feed prices Taiwan's foreign trade department, which administers international trade, said the lifting of the ban lasted until the end of January 2004 and that the maximum import quota has not yet been implemented Qp9 earlier, livestock farmers in the island asked Taiwan authorities to open the market to the mainland, because the price of feed materials in the island increased by more than 20% in a month, due to high freight costs and high international market prices But traders say that despite Taiwan's open market to the mainland, the interest of island users in importing from the mainland may not be strong, and the mainland may not have corn to export A senior manager of qp9, a major feed manufacturer in Taiwan, said that corn in mainland China is cheaper, but not too much, so it's hard to say whether there will be any manufacturers in Taiwan who want to buy corn from mainland China He reported that the CNF price of corn shipped from the mainland to Taiwan was about $155 per ton, while the price of corn shipped from the United States to Taiwan was $160 per ton The United States accounts for about 90% of Taiwan's annual imports of 5 million tons of corn Qp9 industry sources said that Taiwan opened the corn market to the mainland in order to put pressure on the island's feed manufacturers to reduce prices Taiwan's livestock breeding Association believed that feed prices were artificially raised Qp9 Taiwan Animal Husbandry Association last week sent a written statement to the authorities saying feed suppliers on the island were hoarding stocks But the association also acknowledged that high international market prices and freight rates were also the reason for the rise in corn and soybean meal prices on the island In the past month, the price of the two commodities has increased by 20% After qp9 Taiwan authorities said they would consider importing corn from the mainland, the actual price of corn on the island has fallen On Thursday, the price of corn was NT $6.25 per kilogram, lower than the previous NT $6.70 Local feed producers say they have reached the goal of keeping prices down, so they may only import in small quantities Otherwise, it would be shameful to say that we would import corn from the mainland at first, and then we would not import it Qp9 mainland corn supply is tight The timing of Taiwan's authorities allowing corn to be imported from the mainland is puzzling, as China is struggling to meet its export contracts signed at the beginning of the year and may cut exports in 2004 An official at qp9 China Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import and Export Corporation (COFCO) said there was no corn available for the rest of 2003 COFCO is also one of two companies authorized by the Chinese government to export corn We are interested in the Taiwan market and have been expecting Taiwan to open its market since the first attempt to export corn to Taiwan last year, officials said At present, however, we do not provide corn for shipment for the rest of 2003 because of transportation problems Qp9 Taiwan's demand for soybean meal is almost all met by pressing in the island after importing soybeans As China's soybean import was once limited this year, and then basically stopped exporting soybean meal, even Japan, the number one customer of Chinese soybean meal, began to purchase Indian soybean meal According to a Chinese trader working for an international firm, the FOB price of Chinese soybean meal is $305 per ton, the freight to Taiwan is $18 per ton, while the CNF price of Indian soybean meal is about $285 per ton Qp9 in October last year, Taiwan lifted the ban on Corn Trade on the mainland for the first time for half a century, which lasted until the end of 2002 At that time, due to the closure of the west coast of the United States, the supply of corn on the island was tight and the price rose Taiwan imported about 52000 tons of Chinese corn in 2002 QP9