On January 10, 2017, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) issued a final determination in the anti-dumping and countervailing duty trade investigations concerning the export of U.S. distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS). This action culminates a lengthy investigation that established preliminary duty rates several months ago. In response, Growth Energy CEO, Emily Skor, issued the following statement:
“Growth Energy is extremely disappointed with the decision by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) to subject U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) to anti-dumping and countervailing duties. The cumulative impact of these new duties coupled with China’s regular import duty and potential change in the application of China’s value added tax will result in a severe barrier to DDGS trade with what has historically been our largest market.
“Throughout MOFCOM’s anti-dumping and countervailing duty trade investigations, the U.S. ethanol industry cooperated fully and demonstrated that our export prices are consistent with production costs and competitive market conditions in both our own domestic market as well as other overseas markets.
“While DDGS sales into other markets have partially offset the reduction in U.S. shipments to China, the economic loss to the industry and U.S. farmers is significant and underscores the uncertainty of China’s reliability as a trade partner. We will continue working with all parties on this important relationship and look forward to the opportunity of revisiting this decision in the future.”