PARTS of the Mississippi River are lower than ever before, while corn exports are down 21 per cent and soybean exports are down 12 per cent, reports the Des Moines Register.
Food processing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) believes US grain prices will drop, helping them offset lost revenue from decreased exports.
While low water in the Mississippi River will hurt Iowa's farmers, ADM executives declared their business will be fine.
ADM chief executive Juan Luciano declared that the multinational agricultural conglomerate will continue to ship less grain from North America through the end of this year.
In the meantime, Mr Luciano stated the company will ship more grain from terminals in South America.
Mr Luciano expects a boost to the company's processing plants, which crush soybeans to produce animal feed and oils.
'As beans are not exported, that matters,' said Mr Luciano.
'And that may be a boost for (the crush business), that you may be able to crush lower-priced beans or maybe eventually lower-priced corn.'
ADM chief financial officer Vikram Luther declared that the price benefit to the company's crushing business will 'more than offset' its problems on the Mississippi.
While experiencing rising input costs from fertiliser to chemicals to labour, farmers have benefitted from high commodity prices.
However, those farmers need to find a place to put the corn and soybeans they're harvesting this fall.
Meanwhile, shipping costs have exploded. Moving a ton of grain south from terminals in St Louis cost US$105.85 a ton as of October 11, five times the cost a year earlier.
Exporters have not moved as much grain as they usually do this time of year because of the costs.
Shippers had transported 3.8 million tonnes of corn this year, down 21 per cent from this point last year.
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Food processing giant Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) believes US grain prices will drop, helping them offset lost revenue from decreased exports.
While low water in the Mississippi River will hurt Iowa's farmers, ADM executives declared their business will be fine.
ADM chief executive Juan Luciano declared that the multinational agricultural conglomerate will continue to ship less grain from North America through the end of this year.
In the meantime, Mr Luciano stated the company will ship more grain from terminals in South America.
Mr Luciano expects a boost to the company's processing plants, which crush soybeans to produce animal feed and oils.
'As beans are not exported, that matters,' said Mr Luciano.
'And that may be a boost for (the crush business), that you may be able to crush lower-priced beans or maybe eventually lower-priced corn.'
ADM chief financial officer Vikram Luther declared that the price benefit to the company's crushing business will 'more than offset' its problems on the Mississippi.
While experiencing rising input costs from fertiliser to chemicals to labour, farmers have benefitted from high commodity prices.
However, those farmers need to find a place to put the corn and soybeans they're harvesting this fall.
Meanwhile, shipping costs have exploded. Moving a ton of grain south from terminals in St Louis cost US$105.85 a ton as of October 11, five times the cost a year earlier.
Exporters have not moved as much grain as they usually do this time of year because of the costs.
Shippers had transported 3.8 million tonnes of corn this year, down 21 per cent from this point last year.
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