RB Eden a sorghum carrying vessel is caught in the turmoil created by the frictional relationship of US and China over sea-trade, reports the Bloomberg.
The bulk carrier RB Eden loaded with the grain at Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.’s terminal in Corpus Christi, Texas, and initially bound for Shanghai was caught in the turmoil, when China announced a 179 percent tariff on imports of sorghum in mid-April. The vessel performed a U-turn in the Indian Ocean, according to vessel data tracked by Bloomberg, and sailed back around southern Africa toward Europe.
Destination Changed
The vessel’s destination was changed to Cartagena, Spain, but according to the data, it never docked. On May 18, China scrapped its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into sorghum. The same day, the RB Eden began sailing back toward the Atlantic. It’s currently bound for Singapore.
Trade War Concerns
The wanderings of the RB Eden come at a time of uncertainty for agricultural commodity traders. While the Trump administration this week retreated from plans to impose tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods, there’s still widespread concern that a trade war may develop between the two nations. And while sorghum is a relatively small market, China has said it’s considering tariffs on U.S. shipments of soybeans to China, a trade flow that was valued at about $14 billion annually.
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Source: Bloomberg
