Crop Targeted by China Is One It Only Started Buying 5 Years Ago
- Country has become largest U.S. sorghum buyer in short span
- China’s new duties expected to cut off American purchases
Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg
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When China slapped import duties on U.S. sorghum this week, it targeted an annual trade flow worth almost $1 billion that didn’t exist five years ago.
The Asian nation made waves beginning in late 2013 when it began buying U.S. sorghum as a livestock-feed substitute for pricey domestic corn, and demand soared through 2015. While purchases have waned since, China remains America’s largest foreign market by a wide margin. Now, the trade is the latest victim of the tit-for-tat trade battle between the two countries.