Mississippi River to fully reopen next week: trade

By Lisa Shumaker

CHICAGO, July 2 (Reuters) - The upper Mississippi River is expected to fully reopen no later than July 8 after being closed for nearly a month due to the worst flooding in the U.S. Midwest in 15 years, said U.S. grain traders on Wednesday.

For barges to move freely on the most important U.S. commercial waterway, several locks must reopen and water levels must drop enough for barges to safely pass under a railroad bridge that spans Louisiana, Missouri, and Pike County, Illinois.

Lock 20 near Canton, Missouri, is expected to be the final lock and dam to reopen, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Four other locks were closed on Wednesday but expected to reopen on Thursday and Friday.

Lock 20 sits at a lower elevation than the other locks, the Corps of Engineers said.

Water levels must then fall a few more feet to allow barges to pass under the Louisiana Railroad Bridge, which is above Lock 24, grain traders said.

At the height of the flooding, 300 miles of the Mississippi River was closed to barge traffic, disrupting shipments of grain, coal and petroleum products since June 12.

The Mississippi River is the main channel for grain flowing from production areas in the Midwest to the export terminals at the Gulf of Mexico. Between 55 and 65 percent of all U.S. corn, soybean and wheat exports leave from there.

The flooding has caused billions of dollars in damages and wiped out millions of acres of corn and soybeans, sending grain prices to new highs in recent weeks. (Editing by Christian Wiessner)