China applies 179 percent tariff to U.S. sorghum imports

Apr 18, 2018

U.S. farmers exported more than 4 million tons of the crop to China in 2017

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The latest blow in a growing trade war between China and the United States will hit the American sorghum industry.

Yesterday, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that sorghum importers will have to pay a “deposit” of 178.6 percent of the value of the shipments. Those tariffs are effective as of today.

China imported more than 4 million tons of U.S. sorghum in 2017, worth nearly US$1 billion, according to the USDA. The Chinese primarily use the crop to feed livestock and to make baiju, a popular liquor.

The tariff ruling on sorghum results from an anti-dumping investigation China launched in February. The study found that sorghum imports had increased over five years but that the price for the commodity had dropped by more than 30 percent over the same time period.

The investigation began hours after President Trump announced American companies couldn’t sell parts and software to China’s ZTE Corp., a telecommunications equipment manufacturer, for seven years.

Since then, China and the U.S. have each imposed tariffs on a number of items, including agricultural commodities.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue is skeptical of China’s actions.

“The international grain market is about the freest market there is, and it is ludicrous to even mention ‘dumping’ because China can buy product from anywhere they choose,” he said in a statement today. “Our sorghum producers are the most competitive in the world and we do not believe there is any basis in facts for these actions.”

American sorghum producers feel they’re caught in the middle of a disagreement they didn’t start.

China’s decision “reflects a broader trade fight in which U.S. sorghum farmers are the victim, not the cause. And U.S. sorghum farmers should not be paying the price for this larger fight,” the National Sorghum Producers said in a statement yesterday.

Sorghum/Mailson Pignata/iStock/Getty Images Plus

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