This U.S. Grain Market Got Spooked by a Chinese Trade Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Prices in the U.S. Midwest for sorghum, a grain commonly used to feed livestock, have plunged after China announced that it began an anti-subsidy and anti-dumping investigation into American imports.

The cash price in Kansas City, Missouri, has declined about 9.9 percent this week to 5.64 cents a pound, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg. The price hit a 20-month high on Feb. 1 as Chinese imports surged and U.S. inventories shrank after last year’s hot weather. China’s Commerce Ministry confirmed the probe three days later.

China Trade Tensions Ratchet Higher With Grain Import Probe

“Sorghum markets reacted early in the week as farmers and the trade became concerned about market access,” even though sales contracts continue to be executed with China, the U.S. Grains Council said in a report Thursday. The council added that it’s participating in the investigation to show U.S. farmers aren’t dumping the crop in China while also looking for new markets for the grain. China buys most of the sorghum exported by the U.S.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net, Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Joe Richter

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