>> driving up the price of grain across the country
I don’t get that; I thought grain was an *export*. Seems like the inability to ship it away would drive the price *down*.
Grain has a “world price” so if we quit exporting it the world price climbs ~ and so does our domestic price.
Probably would be due to shipping costs. Cheapest way to ship grain from the Columbia basin is to barge it down the river to Portland then put it on ship to final processing. The alternative is haul by truck or train to either another port like Vancouver BC, or sit on it until time to make room for the next crop. I would expect that grain and flour prices in Portland and surrounding cities would actually go down while the strike is on, but up for every one else.
Yes your insights are correct.