High waters in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are slowing the movement of grain barges to the U.S. Gulf export hub, grain traders said, adding another headache to a sector struggling with rising soy stockpiles and slowed exports due to a trade row with China.
Reuters reports a Cargill grain elevator at Hales Point, TN, closed this week, a casualty of rising waters from the Mississippi River that flooded a highway next to the facility, a Cargill website said.
Because of high river levels, barge operators have reduced the size of their tows and are operating only during daylight hours in a few stretches.
The latest rise in river levels followed dense fog last week around New Orleans that slowed the loading of outgoing ships from Gulf grain elevators.
