A Louisiana grain terminal owned by US trader Cargill has been temporarily shut down due to damage brought on by Hurricane Ida.

The Minnesota-based company's facility in Reserve, a small city on the Mississippi River south-east of New Orleans, has completely lost power as a result of the Category 4 storm.

"Within our agriculture supply chain, our Reserve, Louisiana terminal has sustained significant damage," Cargill said in a statement.

"This area in south-east Louisiana is still facing significant personal safety concerns and power outages, so we are just able to start assessing the storm’s impact on the river system.

"We don’t currently have a time frame for resuming operations. With power not yet restored to the area, communications with teams on the ground have been limited."

Human safety

Cargill said its priority is on ensuring the safety and well-being of its employees in the region, which on Sunday sustained winds as high as 240 km per hour.

"We will continue prioritising the safety of our employees and their families and will provide updates once available.

"Our focus right now is on employee safety, especially as the area continues to face power outages and flooding dangers."

Cargill, which rolled out emergency operational plans at locations in the storm's path over the weekend, also experienced delays at facilities in its salt and animal nutrition businesses.

"It appears physical damage is minimal, and they will be able to resume full operations within the next 24 hours," it said on Monday morning.

Cargill has 100 facilities throughout the eastern half of the US and Canada.

Crop traders Bunge and Archer-Daniels-Midland said they were assessing damage to their export facilities in the area, Reuters reported.

Prices for grain delivered by barge to Gulf terminals, which handle about 60% of US grain exports, fell sharply on Monday amid forecasts for a lengthy storm recovery, Reuters wrote.

Bunge expects to reopen its Destrehan, Louisiana, export elevator — the Central Gulf Export Corridor's only port-based crushing plant — on Tuesday.