This article has been reprinted from the Aug. 1 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending July 18, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 18.1 mmt.
This indicates a 12 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .121 mmt, down 39 percent from the previous week.
Net soybean export sales were negative .78 mmt, down significantly from the past week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .660 mmt, up 90 percent from the from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 22,705 grain carloads for the week ending July 20.
This is a 6 percent decrease from the previous week, 5 percent less than last year, and unchanged from the 3-year average.
Average August shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $178 below tariff for the week ending July 25.
This is $123 less than last week and $3 lower than last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending July 27, barge grain movements totaled 784,596 tons.
This is a 1.5 percent increase from the previous week and 13 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending July 27, 496 grain barges moved down river.
This is 6 more barges than the previous week.
There were 590 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 42 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending July 25, 30 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This is 21 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Fifty-five vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 25 percent more than the same period last year.
As of July 25, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $50.50.
This is 2 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from the PNW to Japan was $28.00 per mt, 4 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending July 29, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 1 cent from the previous week, to $3.034 per gallon.
This price is 19.2 cents less than the same week last year.