Much of the grain shipped through the Twin Ports goes to Europe and the Mediterranean countries, but conditions throughout the country and the world can affect these shipments.
The ports' main competition is barge traffic on the Mississippi River. If river traffic is particularly heavy, the overflow may go through the Twin Ports. If river traffic is disrupted, the same result may occur as grain shippers seek another outlet to move their product.
Over the years, I've seen things like a good harvest in Brazil or a drought in Australia affect Twin Ports grain traffic. If Russia or Europe has a poor grain crop, Twin Ports shipments usually increase. When there's a shortage somewhere in the world, buyers turn to the United States to buy from its stockpiles.
In recent years, several Twin Ports grain terminals were bought by hedge funds to hold grain waiting for prices to rise. It sounds like some of these terminals have now changed hands, so new owners might be using them to actually ship grain rather than hoard it.
I don't know what specifically may be affecting this year's grain traffic there, but it could be any or all of these factors.
Grain exports out of the Twin Ports
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garbear
Re: Grain exports out of the Twin Ports
A guess would be that it has to do with freight rates. Barge rates down the Mississippi and rail rates to the West Coast. I used to keep a journal of grain loadings in the Twin Ports, but with what's loaded at Riverland Ag and what is due in over the next week, that should make 7 boats that have/will load there so far this season. Probably more than the last 3 seasons combined. Plus, there are roughly 4 months left in the grain shipping season.
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Bobe0012
Grain exports out of the Twin Ports
It seems like a higher volume of traffic this years in terms of the grain trade, most notably at Riverland AG in Duluth... Does anyone have information on what is creating this surge in demand as opposed to recent and more stagnant years?