China imports more sorghum in May but trade tipped to fall under tariff pressure
May volumes were up year on year despite anti-dumping investigation
China’s imports of sorghum in May rose 59 per cent year on year to 470,000 tonnes, customs data showed on Saturday, despite an anti-dumping move by Beijing a month earlier that had roiled the grains trade.
The surprisingly large number came even after China announced in mid-April that importers of sorghum from the United States would have to put up a 178.6 per cent deposit on the value of shipments.
Several cargoes of the US-grown grain, used in livestock feed and the fiery Chinese liquor baiji u, were already on the water at the time, but changed course and were sold in other markets.
But China dropped an anti-dumping investigation into US imports on May 18, and the data suggests that several cargoes that had not been diverted cleared Chinese customs in the final weeks of the month.