Grain Transportation Overview by Sector: 3/21/19

This article has been reprinted from the March 21 USDA Grain Transportation Report.

Export Sales

For the week ending March 7, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 33.5 mmt.

This indicates an 11 percent drop from the same time last year.

Net weekly wheat export sales were .263 mmt, a 58 percent decrease from the previous week.

Net corn export sales totaled .372 mmt, down 62 percent from the previous week.

Net soybean export sales were 1.91 mmt, up notably from the past week.

Net soybean sales to China accounted for 89 percent of the total net soybean sales.

Rail

U.S. Class I railroads originated 19,218 grain carloads for the week ending March 9, which is down 5 percent from the previous week, 16 percent from last year, and 16 percent from the 3-year average.

Average March shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $1,617 above tariff for the week ending March 14, down $179 from last week.

Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers were $400 above tariff, down $38 from last week.

There were no shuttle or non-shuttle bids/offers this week last year.

Barge

For the week ending March 16, barge grain movements totaled 659,690 tons.

This is 82 percent higher than the previous week and 21 percent lower than the same period last year.

For the week ending March 16, 389 grain barges moved down river.

This is 141 barges more than the previous week.

There were 466 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 4 percent lower than the previous week.

Ocean

For the week ending March 14, 30 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.

This is 19 percent less than the same period last year.

Sixty-three vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days, 2 percent more than the same period last year.

For the week ending March 14, the ocean freight rate for shipping bulk grain from the Gulf to Japan was $40.00 per metric ton, unchanged from the previous week.

The cost of shipping from the PNW to Japan was $23.00 per metric ton, unchanged from the previous week.

Fuel

For the week ending March 18, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased to $3.070 per gallon, 0.9 cents below the previous week’s average and 9.8 cents above the same week last year.