China-Bound U.S. Sorghum Cargoes Diverted to Saudi Arabia, Japan

Four U.S. sorghum shipments initially bound for China have been diverted to other countries after Beijing’s move last week to impose hefty anti-dumping deposits on imports of the grain from the United States, according to trade sources and Reuters shipping data.

Three of the cargoes are now sailing for Saudi Arabia after being sold to a private buyer, a U.S. trader and a Middle East-based trading source with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday. A fourth ship is heading to Japan, according to Reuters shipping data.

The ships were the first of the more than 20 China-bound vessels that have been rerouted to other destinations since the 178.6 percent anti-dumping deposits were announced on April 17.

Sorghum is just a small slice of the billions of dollars in exports at stake in an escalating trade dispute between the world’s two largest economies.

Thomson Reuters Eikon ship-tracking data showed a vessel carrying 69,842 tonnes of sorghum switch destinations to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, from China earlier in the day.

The three cargoes were sold to Saudi Arabia at a price of $190 a tonne delivered, trade sources said.

“That’s a pretty nice discount. It would have otherwise been about $208 a tonne landed in the kingdom,” said a U.S. export trader who asked not to be named.

The BTG EIGER departed with sorghum from Archer Daniels Midland Co’s Corpus Christi elevator in Texas on March 3, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Federal Grains Inspection Service.

Source:Reuters