This article has been reprinted from USDA's April 25 Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending April 11, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 31 mmt.
This indicates a 15 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net weekly wheat export sales were .318 mmt, up 16 percent from the previous week.
Net corn export sales totaled .948 mmt, up 73 percent from the previous week.
Net soybean export sales totaled .382 mmt, up 41 percent from the past week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 21,639 grain carloads for the week ending April 13.
This is down 1 percent from the previous week, 4 percent lower than last year, and unchanged from the 3-year average.
Average May shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $125 below tariff for the week ending April 18.
This is down $154 from last week and $817 below last year.
Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers were $650 above tariff, up $313 from last week.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week last year.
Barge
For the week ending April 13, barge grain movements totaled 428,581 tons.
This is 15 percent lower than the previous week and 31 percent lower than the same period last year.
For the week ending April 13, 265 grain barges moved down river.
This is 65 less barges than the previous week.
There were 524 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 12 percent higher than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending April 18, 32 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This was is 14 percent less than the same period last year.
Fifty-four vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 8 percent more than the same period last year.
As of April 18, 2019, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $42.00, unchanged from the previous week.
The rate for the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $23.00 per mt.
This is 2 percent lower than the previous week.