Costa Rica: Hurricane Ida Disruption to Corn and Soybean Supplies Drives Significant Losses

Damage to port facilities in New Orleans during Hurricane Ida caused significant delays to shipments of U.S. feed grains to Costa Rica, where the poultry, pork, and dairy sectors rely almost exclusively on U.S. suppliers. Shortages of corn and soybeans forced animal operations to implement maintenance rations and caused Costa Rica’s only soybean crushing mill to go dark for weeks in October. Costa Rica imported more than $300 million of U.S. feed grains in 2020.