August 18, 2006

Cargill halts soy deliveries to three US plants to Aug 28

Cargill, the world's largest grain trading company, reportedly has halted soybean deliveries at its soybean processing plants in Iowa Falls, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

"We (Cargill) had a major breakdown at the Iowa Falls plant overnight and are doing construction work at both of the other places," an Iowa soy merchandiser confirmed early Thursday (Aug 17). "We won't take beans again at any of those locations until Aug 28, but have plenty of inventory, so will keep loading out meal."

Many US soybean processors often take downtime at soybean plants during late August to conduct routine maintenance at a time when declining supplies of old-crop cash soybeans coincide with a seasonal heat-driven decline in livestock feed demand, to reduce crushing margins.

Thursday's move is expected to dampen spot soybean basis in all affected areas. Iowa is normally one of the nation's top-two soybean producing states.