Sorghum and steel wheels focus of continuing U.S.-China trade war
April 24, 2018 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping measures on sorghum imported from the United States, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said in a preliminary anti-dumping ruling. It said that U.S. companies had dumped sorghum on the Chinese market, and such imports had caused substantial damage to the domestic industry. Starting on April 18, sorghum importers were required to pay deposits with Chinese customs of 178.6%. China is a major buyer of U.S. sorghum, which is used in the Chinese liquor baijiu. U.S. sorghum exports to China surged from 317,000 metric tons in 2013 to 4.76 million tons in 2017, while export prices have slumped 31% during the period, which led to a fall in domestic prices that hurt local industries. Twenty ships carrying over 1.2 million tons of U.S. sorghum valued at more than USD216 are on the way to China, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At least five ships changed course within hours of China’s announcing the tariff. They would be liable for a hefty deposit to be paid on the value of their shipments, which could make the loads unprofitable to deliver.
In addition to sorghum, China also started an anti-dumping investigation into imported phenol from the United States, the European Union, South Korea, Japan and Thailand late last month. Separately, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on halogenated butyl rubber – used for making tires – originating from the U.S., the European Union and Singapore is being dumped into China. Importers representing such firms as ExxonMobil and Arlanxeo were told to pay import duty deposits ranging from 26% to 66.5% to China Customs. MOFCOM said that it had started an anti-trust inquiry into U.S. smartphone chip maker Qualcomm’s takeover of Dutch chip maker NXP Semiconductors on the basis that the deal could harm market competition. It said it would take “a large amount of time” to conduct the investigation.
“If China really does start slapping tariffs on everything, like soybeans and corn, things could get really ugly, really fast,” said Bill Densmore, Senior Director of Corporate Ratings at Fitch Ratings.
The U.S. Commerce Department announced it was starting new investigations to determine if certain steel wheels from China are dumped in the U.S. and whether manufacturers in China are receiving subsidies. The U.S. government also made a preliminary determination that aluminum sheet imports from China are being subsidized.
The U.S. has initiated five investigations on anti-dumping and countervailing measures against Chinese products so far this year. The number of cases has increased significantly year-on-year. Three of the five products involved are steel products.
- KURT VANDEPUTTE (UMICORE) APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF THE FLANDERS-CHINA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (FCCC)
- Webinar: “Knowing Your Chinese Partner” – May 26, 2021, 10 am – 12 am
- EMA starts rolling review of CoronaVac, WHO approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use
- The Global Times warns not to politicize the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI)
- Hainan to become biggest duty-free market in the world