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Railroad closure at U.S.-Mexico border puts some grain shipments on hold

The president of the National Grain and Feed Association says the closure of a rail passage that connects the U.S. and Mexico is causing some backups for trains hauling exported grain and “there is no timeline for re-opening.”

Mike Seyfert tells Brownfield there are trains in at least six states including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota and Nebraska that are on hold or delayed due to the closure in south Texas.  

“Almost all of the product our NGFA members are shipping into Mexico are going to be used for human or animal food in Mexico or processed and shipped back into the U.S. We’re really talking about food here.”

He says cattle feeders in Mexico don’t carry excess supplies and within a week, there might be some feeders who don’t have grain for animals.

“When you’re feeding animals and you don’t have feed, you have to very quickly make some difficult decisions.”

Seyfert says the U.S. Customs and Border Protection say the rail closure happened due to the surge of migrants coming to the U.S. border from Mexico.

“We understand those significant challenges, but we have to find ways to keep commerce moving between our two countries and the entire North American continent.”

He says the reliability of infrastructure makes the United States an attractive trading partner, but prolonged closures on the rail can hurt that reputation. USDA says rail represents 64% of grain and oilseed exports to Mexico.