Market News & Headlines >> China Launches Anti-dumping Probe Against U.S. Sorghum

China has launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into imports of U.S. sorghum in what is viewed by many as retaliation for recent U.S. moves against imports of several products from China. 

Those moves including tariffs recently applied by the Trump administration to U.S. imports of solar panels and washing machines from China as well as an anti-dumping investigation into imports of rolled aluminum that was started last November. 

The sorghum investigation, announced by China’s Ministry of Commerce on Sunday, is expected to immediately hit demand for U.S. exports of the feed grain as China is by far the largest destination for those exports. 

The ministry said it had initiated the investigation on its own because the local industry included a large number of small growers who were unable to prepare the necessary documentation. A Chinese government spokesman told reporters on Monday that the sorghum anti-dumping probe was a "normal individual case of trade remedy investigation". 

The investigation will be carried out for the period from Nov. 1, 2016 until Oct. 31, 2017, while an investigation of industrial injury will be from Jan. 1, 2013 until Oct. 31, 2017, said the ministry of commerce statement. The investigation should be complete by Feb. 4, 2019, it said, but can be extended until Aug. 4, 2019.