Grain Transportation Overview: 5/23/19

This article has been reprinted from the May 23 USDA Grain Transportation Report.

Export Sales

For the week ending May 9, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 25.3 mmt.

This indicates a 20 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.

Net weekly wheat export sales were .114 mmt, up 25 percent from the previous week.

Net corn export sales totaled .553 mmt, up 92 percent from the previous week.

At .249 mmt, net soybean export sales rebounded from negative sales during the previous week.

Rail

U.S. Class I railroads originated 24,176 grain carloads for the week ending May 11.

This is 8 percent higher than the previous week, unchanged from last year, and 10 percent above the 3-year average.

Average June shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $158 above tariff for the week ending May 16.

This is $71 below last week and $424 lower than last year.

Average non-shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers were $225 above tariff, $50 below last week and $113 lower than last year.

Barge

For the week ending May 18, barge grain movements totaled 369,250 tons.

This is 0.1 percent less than the previous week and 60 percent lower than the same period last year.

For the week ending May 18, 210 grain barges moved down river. This is 10 more barges than the previous week.

There were 513 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, unchanged from the previous week.

Ocean

For the week ending May 16, 29 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.

This is 9 percent less than the same period last year.

Fifty-three vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.

This is 23 percent more than the same period last year. As of May 16, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $43.00.

This is 1 percent more than the previous week.

The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $23.50 per mt, a 2 percent increase from the previous week.

Fuel

For the week ending May 20, the U.S. average diesel fuel price increased 0.3 cents, from the previous week, to $3.163 per gallon.

This price is 11.4 cents below the same week last year.