Sorghum duty will hit Kansas hard

Kansas is the top producer in the US, and China is its largest consumer.

And now sorghum is the latest agriculture victim in a trade spat between China and the US.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday that US sorghum exporters will pay a 178.6 percent "deposit" as part of anti-dumping duties on the grain. The ministry said its ruling was preliminary, and that the charges - which take effect on Wednesday - were temporary. It said it would announce a final decision in the sorghum probe at a later date.

National Sorghum Producers said in a statement that US sorghum is not being dumped in China, and "US sorghum producers and exporters have not caused any injury to China's sorghum industry".

More than 80 percent of all US sorghum exports go to China, according to the US Grains Council. The grain - used to feed cattle, as well as an ingredient in the strong Chinese liquor, baijiu - brings US farmers around $1 billion each year from China.

Agriculture has been China's main target in tariffs on the US, with import duties planned for hogs, soybeans and now sorghum, since the US placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

The measure on sorghum will hit farm areas that voted for presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2016. According to the Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission, the sorghum farm belt runs from South Dakota to southern Texas. In addition to Kansas, Texas and Arkansas are among the top sorghum-producing states, according to the commission's website. Trump won all three states in 2016.

Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer said that in the last three years the state exported nearly $416 million in sorghum to China, and that the new duty "directly hits the pocketbook of farmers across Kansas".

Colyer said he reached out to the Office of the US Trade Representative and the US Department of Agriculture on the new duty. "They are working diligently on this issue," he said. "Kansas farmers cannot afford a delay in action."