American ‘King of Herbs’ Rescued as China Cuts Alfalfa Tariffs

(Bloomberg) --

Luckily for China’s cows, the country is removing retaliatory tariffs on their favorite food -- American alfalfa hay.

Known as the king of herbs, the key cattle feed was listed among the 16 categories of U.S. products excluded from extra import tariffs China put in place last year. American alfalfa supplies to China, which once accounted for half of U.S. total exports, have been shrinking since last year as the trade war escalated and the 25% extra duties bit into demand.

China imported about 389,000 tons of alfalfa hay from the U.S. in the first seven months of this year, a 35% drop from the same period last year and compared with a record 1.17 million tons in 2017, U.S. Census Bureau Trade data show. Chinese purchases accounted for 26% of U.S. total exports from January to July, the data show.

--With assistance from Andrew Janes.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alfred Cang in Singapore at acang@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net, Anna Kitanaka, Ramsey Al-Rikabi

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