While it’s not catastrophic in terms of South American export levels, rivers have reached low enough levels to hinder shipments of grain and oilseeds.
The University of Illinois Farm Policy News says South America is not in its peak trading season. Record drought in the Amazon and lower-than-usual rainfall have sent water levels dropping rapidly and hindered barges carrying grains for export. Even South America’s Paraguay River, a key shipping lane for grains, has hit a record low near Paraguay’s capital. In fact, the Paraguay River has dropped so low it’s broken the previous record low level set in October 2021. The northern section of the Paraguay waterway is so low that navigation has practically come to a standstill. Brazil has also been hit by a drought that’s begun to threaten the country’s coffee and soybean crops. That’s after wildfires in Brazil scarred the sugar cane fields.
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