BEIJING, April 17 (Reuters) - China will require CHS Inc and other U.S. companies to put down a big deposit for sorghum shipments to the country after finding the U.S. grain has damaged the domestic industry, Beijing said on Tuesday in a preliminary antidumping ruling.

The move follows a launch of an anti-dumping investigation just over two months ago and will likely stir trade tensions between the world’s top two economies.

The deposit will be as high as 178.6 percent of the value of any U.S. sorghum imports by China and is effective from Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement as it continues its investigation.

The government found the domestic industry was “substantially damaged” by U.S. imports that are being dumped into the country, it said. (Reporting by Josephine Mason; Editing by Tom Hogue)