The U.S. farm lobby fired its first riposte to China’s antidumping investigation into U.S. exports of distiller’s dried grains, calling the probe “surprising” and saying it’s China’s “unusual market and supply volatility over the last two years (that) has resulted in new global trade flows… and unprecedented demand.”
The statement on New Year’s Eve from U.S. Grains Council president Thomas Dorr didn’t mention another possible motivation for China’s probe into the $700-million-a-year market, which has been raised by market analysts: Beijing’s probe comes just a week after the U.S. said it was requesting consultations with China at the World Trade Organization to end hundreds of millions of dollars of Chinese subsidies to boost wind-power production.
The council is an influential lobby for U.S. agricultural trade, and DDG suppliers include some titans of the U.S. corporate scene, including Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Commodities. … By opening its investigation, China is suggesting that U.S. exporters may have deliberately held down prices to undercut domestic competitors to gain market share.