Theshrinking Mississippi Riverhas hobbled the most efficient channel for moving U.S. soybeans onto world markets, prompting a pivot to alternatives from Puget Sound to Texas to the Great Lakes reportsBloomberg.
Typically, more than half of all U.S. soybean exports traverse the Mississippi River but after weeks of scant rainfall, water depths have dwindled, raising barge costs to an all-time high andeven shuttering some grain elevatorsalong the waterway.
As a result, ports in places like southeast Texas that normally handle less than 5% of the nations soybean exports, are being called into action.
TheUSDA说2.57 million tons of American soybeans were inspectedin the week ended October 27, a drop of 12% from the previous week.
The Mississippi River accounted for less than a third of the shipments, with supplies also leaving ports in Alabama and elsewhere, data showed on Monday.
