(Bloomberg) -- Grain and oilseed futures dropped in Chicago as Hurricane Ida disrupted U.S. shipments, causing supplies to back up.
Stalled barge traffic on the Mississippi River and loss of power in New Orleans is putting exports out of the Gulf of Mexico on hold. Grain trading giant Cargill Inc. said one of its agriculture terminals in Louisiana has “significant damage,” with no time frame for when operations might resume.
Hurricane Ida barreled into the Louisiana coast on Sunday, imperiling U.S. energy supplies as well as key transport routes for soybeans and corn.
Major grain traders have shuttered export terminals and at least one soybean crushing plant on the weekend. The lower Mississippi river is by far the largest export region for soybeans and corn, accounting for more than half of U.S. shipments.
On a positive note, the storm disruptions are hitting as corn and soybean shipping are each near “seasonal low points for the year,” Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale Inc., said in an email. There's also cautious optimism that traffic could pick back up later in the week, analysts and traders said.
Corn declined 2.7% to $5.39 a bushel as of 11:55 a.m. in Chicago. Soybean oil futures fell almost 2% and soybeans dropped 1.6% to $13.0125 a bushel. Wheat also tumbled.
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