U.S. sorghum ship bound for China heads for Saudi Arabia

A vessel carrying 69,842 tonnes of sorghum from the United States bound for China has switched its destination to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The BTG EIGER departed with U.S. sorghum from Archer Daniels Midland Co’s Corpus Christi Grain Elevator in Texas on March 3, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Federal Grains Inspection Service.

Several ships carrying cargoes of sorghum from the United States to China have changed course since Beijing slapped hefty anti-dumping deposits on U.S. imports of the grain last week, trade sources and a Reuters analysis of export and shipping data showed. There are 22 vessels carrying U.S. sorghum on the water that were loaded for China, the USDA’s data showed.

China imports sorghum for use in livestock feed and to manufacture the liquor baijiu. Saudi Arabia is not a big sorghum importer, but it is the world’s tenth-largest buyer of corn. The country is forecast to import 4.5 million tonnes of corn this year, USDA estimates showed. Some of the sorghum is expected to be used to replace corn in animal feed rations.