Market News & Headlines >> CBOT Declares Force Majeure on Illinois River

Recent heavy precipitation in the southern and central Midwest is playing havoc with transportation of grain and soybean supplies and threatening crop land. Major flooding is occurring on the Missouri River in eastern Missouri and the Mississippi River in Missouri and Illinois.

The Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday afternoon declared a condition of force majeure at all corn and soybean shipping stations on the Illinois River. The force majeure, which took effect immediately and until further notices, was declared because high water levels and/or flooding have made load-out impossible at a majority of regular shipping stations on the river. 

The CBOT last declared force majeure for the Illinois River shipping points in mid-June 2015, also because of high water levels and/or flooding. That declaration stayed in effect until early August.

A 14.5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near St Louis has been closed since Tuesday due to high water levels, blocking barge traffic.

At least 14 levees along the Missouri River in Missouri are losing the battle against floodwaters.The Missouri Levee & Drainage District Association said Thursday that seven levees have been overtopped by water and seven more have been breached, with water pouring through them. The levees are in rural areas and the impact is mostly on farmland.