Chinese buyers are looking to shift away from the U.S. to meet their soybean needs following slow U.S. export sales after the Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans late last month, reports S&P Global Platts.
Hurricane Ida led to suspension of operations and facility damages to major grain elevators in that region of the U.S.
It has been two weeks, but only a few grain elevators resumed loading last week, and the rest were still waiting for power restoration before conducting further examination of damage.
"Major grain trading houses were still reluctant to commit any sales loading before November, as sellers were concerned of failing to deliver cargoes amid logistic uncertainty and unstable status of their facilities," a source told S&P Global Platts.
There has been no availability of cargo offers for October shipment from the Gulf for two weeks, multiple Chinese buyers told S&P Global Platts.
