Chinese imports of dried distillers grains with solubles dropped 98% in April to just 84 mt, from 3,637 mt in March, and it dropped 97% from 3,033 mt in April 2019, Chinese Customs Information Center data shows.
DDGS import value dropped 90% to $63,210, compared with April 2019's $662,794, the data shows. April's imports were down 92% from $839,843 in March.
Chinese DDGS imports for 2020 through April totaled 11,232 mt, down 40% from 8,586 mt the year-ago period.
All China's imports in April originated in Vietnam.
China had been the largest buyer of US DDGS, Chinese DDGS imports for 2015 totaled 6.821 million mt, but in September 2016 it imposed a preliminary 33.8% antidumping duty on US DDGS. It then announced a preliminary antisubsidy tariff of 10%-10.7%.
China announced its final rule in January 2017, increasing the antidumping duties to 42.2%-53.7% and its anti-subsidy duties to 11.2%-12%.
China removed its 11% value-added tax on imported DDGS in November 2017, but the antidumping and anti-subsidy duties are still in place.
China has not announced yet a drop on its antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on US DDGS as a result of the US-China Phase 1 trade deal signed in January.
In April, US DDGS for CIF New Orleans in-barge market reached is record price at $240/st due to the fall in US ethanol production at that time, which made US DDGS unattractive to the Asian markets.
DDGS is a co-product of ethanol production and used for livestock feed in feedlots.
