Sorghum Trade Is Drying Up in U.S. After China Imposes Tariffs
Sorghum Trade Is Drying Up in U.S. After China Imposes Tariffs
(Bloomberg) -- Bids for sorghum in the Gulf of Mexico have almost disappeared after China’s decision earlier this week to impose a 179 percent tariff on U.S. imports, according to grain-handling company Scoular Co.
“There’s been very little trade,” Bob Ludington, who oversees Omaha-based Scoular’s North America grain and oilseed division, said in an interview Thursday. While some U.S. grain elevators are still bidding for sorghum, “nobody is looking” for it in the Gulf, he said.
Scoular has elevators in Kansas that buy crops including sorghum. The company then ships supplies around the U.S. as well as to Mexico and exporters in the Gulf.
China has been the biggest importer of U.S. supplies. When the Asian country announced an investigation into American shipments in February, sorghum prices dropped on speculation that tariffs would be imposed, erasing the premium the grain had fetched over corn prices in Kansas.
Now that the tariffs are here, sorghum prices relative to corn must drop to attract domestic as well as international customers, said Ludington, who is based in Overland Park, Kansas.
Sorghum is fed to livestock and poultry and is also used to make ethanol. It has been priced out of the U.S. animal-feed market because of strong Chinese demand over the last few years, Ludington said. Where U.S. supplies may go now isn’t certain, but Mexico may be a potential destination, he said.
--With assistance from Jeff Wilson
To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi
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