Kansas Gov: Taiwan To Ease US Beef Restrictions

Hagins said that according to state agriculture statistics, Kansas ranked third in the country in 2007 in live animals and meat exports with $596.2 million in sales, the most recent figure available.

Taiwan restricts imports to boneless beef products from cattle 30 months old and younger over concerns about so-called mad cow disease.

Taiwan recently agreed to buy $425 million worth of wheat from the United States, most of which will come from Kansas.

"On every level, it was a success," Parkinson said of the trade mission. "We thought that it was important to go to Taiwan to thank the officials for entering into that agreement for us, to affirm that we would fulfill our obligations and, hopefully, lay the foundation for discussions about future sales."

Taiwan was the 16th largest market for Kansas products in 2008. Taiwan ranks as the seventh largest export market for U.S. agricultural products and the second largest consumer of U.S. agricultural products per capita.

Parkinson said he also visited the Garmin Ltd. plant in Taipei. Garmin CEO Min Kao is from Taiwan and the maker of GPS navigation devices has its corporate headquarters in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe.