US CIF Gulf corn and soyabean basis values were mostly steady on Monday, with traders reporting no serious damage from Hurricane Rita to export facilities at the Texas Gulf, traders said.
Rita hit landfall early on Saturday, moving across the Texas-Louisiana border. The damage was much smaller in scale compared with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
"Damage was minimal," said a river trader, whose company has grain export facilities at the Texas Gulf.
An exporter said Rita did not cause serious damage to export grain elevators at the Texas Gulf, adding that those at Houston were expected to be back up by Wednesday.
"We are expecting to get power back today, so I think elevators could be running again by Wednesday," he said, adding that the port at Beaumont, however, could take until next Monday to be fully operational.
He said Beaumont had suffered some damage, adding that power needed to be restored to the port there.
Traders said barge supplies remained tight as traffic slowed last week ahead of Rita, and as some export grain elevators shut down as a precaution before the storm.
Barge freight held steady on Monday after rebounding last week on the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio rivers before Hurricane Rita hit Louisiana and Texas on Saturday.
Traders said farmer selling was slow, with rains slowing the harvest in some parts of the Midwest.
Low grain prices coupled with high loan deficiency payments were limiting the sales of corn and soya, although farmers continued to deliver grain they had previously sold.
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