U.S. Sorghum Shipment Heads to China After Leaders’ Meeting, Grains Council Chairman Says

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI, Nov. 6 (Reuters) – A shipment of sorghum has been sent from the United States to China since last week, Mark Wilson, chairman of the U.S. Grains and BioProducts Council, said on Thursday, the first known cargo following the recent meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

“I know after the meeting, one shipment of sorghum has been loaded and is coming over,” Wilson told Reuters on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai, adding that he did not know the size of the shipment.

China, the top market for U.S. farmers and the world’s largest buyer of U.S. sorghum, has turned its vast appetite for U.S. crops into a powerful trade war bargaining chip.

After several rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs, Chinese buyers have largely avoided U.S. farm goods, including sorghum, and turned to other suppliers.

Investors on both sides of the Pacific welcomed the recent meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, which helped ease concerns that the world’s two largest economies might abandon efforts to resolve their tariff disputes.

Beijing on Wednesday announced that from November 10 it would scrap tariffs of up to 15% that it had announced on March 4 for some U.S. agricultural goods. The move includes removing a 10% duty on U.S. sorghum.

However, China will retain the additional 10% levies on all U.S. goods introduced in response to President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” duties.

“I hope that we can get back to normal on sorghum because that’s the number one thing,” said Wilson.

“Before, 95% of the (U.S. sorghum) export market from the U.S. came to China, so we need to get that going again. That’s what I hope happens,” said Wilson.

(Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai, Writing by Ella Cao; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Sonali Paul)