U.S. Grain Exports Sink as Louisiana Gulf Struggles to Get Shipments Moving Again

New Orleans, LA — As Louisiana Gulf Coast grain shippers struggled to get their facilities back online following Hurricane Ida, U.S. grain exports slumped to their lowest level in years, preliminary data showed, according to a Reuters report.

Hurricane Ida flooded and damaged grain terminals and knocked out power across the region.

Weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grain inspections data, an early indicator of shipments abroad, showed the volume of corn weighed and certified for export last week was the lowest in 8 1/2 years as no grain was inspected along the Louisiana Gulf Coast, the busiest outlet for U.S. crops.

Soybean inspections were up only slightly from the prior week's seven-year low.

Most of the nearly dozen large grain terminals along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico escaped the storm with minor damage, but the region's devastated power grid has hobbled the recovery.

To read the full report, click here.


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