This article has been reprinted from the July 18 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending July 4, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 20.3 mmt.
This indicates a 12 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .505 mmt, up significantly from the previous week.
Net soybean export sales totaled .132 mmt, down 84 percent from the past week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .284 mmt, up 3 percent from the from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 23,651 grain carloads, for the week ending July 6.
This is a 13 percent increase from the previous week, 11 percent higher than last year, and 18 percent above the 3-year average.
Average July shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $75 above tariff for the week ending July 11.
This is $33 more than last week and $356 less than last year.
Average non-shuttle bids/offers were $38 above tariff.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers last week or this week last year.
Barge
For the week ending July 13, barge grain movements totaled 676,770 tons.
This is a 13 percent decrease from the previous week and 42 percent lower than the same period last year.
For the week ending July 13, 428 grain barges moved down river.
This is 61 fewer barges than the previous week.
There were 299 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 31 percent less than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending July 11, 24 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This is 14 percent less than the same period last year.
Forty-five vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 6 percent less than the same period last year.
As of July 11, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $46.50.
This is 4 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from the PNW to Japan was $25.50 per mt, 5 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending July 15, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 0.4 cents from the previous week, to $3.051 per gallon.
This price is 18.8 cents less than the same week last year.