Chicago | Reuters — Low water levels on the lower Mississippi River are likely to persist through at least January despite expected above-normal precipitation across the southern U.S. this winter, forecasters with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday. The severe to exceptional drought choking the lower Mississippi River valley is expected to […] Read more
Low water on Mississippi to persist despite improved drought outlook
Risk of getting stuck mean less grain per barge
Shallow Mississippi River expected to persist as dry winter hits U.S. South
River levels at historic lows this fall
Reuters — Low water levels on the Mississippi River are likely to persist this winter as drier-than-normal weather is expected across the southern U.S. and Gulf Coast, U.S. government forecasters said on Thursday. Drought, which currently spans 59 per cent of the country, is expected to continue or worsen in the middle and lower Mississippi […] Read more
U.S. barge backlog swells on parched Mississippi River
Chicago | Reuters –– Commercial barge traffic on southern stretches of the Mississippi River was at a standstill on Tuesday as low water levels halted shipments of grain, fertilizer and other commodities on the critical waterway, shipping sources said. The supply chain snarl comes just as harvesting of corn and soybeans, the largest U.S. cash […] Read more
Argentina forms agency to manage cargo river, grain exporters worry
Added bureaucracy in grain shipping feared
Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina said on Wednesday it had formed a new government agency to manage dredging operations needed to ensure navigation of the Parana River, which carries about 80 per cent of the country’s grains exports from the Pampas farm belt out to sea. For decades, cargo ships have paid tolls directly […] Read more
Barge backlog starts moving as Mississippi River reopens
Over 1,000 barges waiting to pass
Chicago | Reuters — The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of part of the waterway that caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges carrying oil, corn and other goods. The Coast Guard said the river is open to all vessel traffic […] Read more
U.S. barge backup worsens as Mississippi River shut near Memphis
Chicago | Reuters — A traffic jam on the lower Mississippi River swelled to 771 barges on Thursday as a fractured bridge near Memphis closed the waterway that is crucial for U.S. crop exports. The shutdown fueled concerns about shipping U.S. grain and soy to export markets at a time when global inventories are slim […] Read more
Green Plains sues ADM, alleging ethanol market manipulation
Chicago | Reuters — Green Plains Inc., one of the biggest U.S. ethanol producers, sued Archer Daniels Midland on Tuesday, accusing the global grain trader of manipulating the price of the biofuel to profit from its positions in the derivatives market. Green Plains filed the proposed class action with the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, […] Read more
Major grain traders face one-two punch from U.S. floods, trade war
Chicago | Reuters — Severe U.S. weather likely dented earnings for large grain companies including Archer Daniels Midland and Bunge for a second straight quarter, adding to headwinds from a still-unresolved U.S.-China trade war, analysts and economists said. ADM and Bunge, as well as peers Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, known as the ABCD quartet of […] Read more
Midwest floods hammer U.S. ethanol industry
New York | Reuters — The March floods that punished the U.S. Midwest have roiled the ethanol industry, hammering prices and trapping barrels in the country’s interior while the U.S. coasts suffer from shortages of the biofuel. The historic March floods have dealt a series of blows to large swaths of an ethanol industry that […] Read more
ADM says U.S. floods to cut into Q1 operating profit
Chicago | Reuters — Flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest will reduce Archer Daniels Midland’s first-quarter operating profit by US$50 million to $60 million, the U.S. grains trader said on Monday. Record floods have devastated a wide swath of the farm belt across Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and several other states. The […] Read more
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