This article has been reprinted from the Aug. 15 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending August 1, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 15.3 mmt.
This indicates a 10 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .043 mmt, down 70 percent from the previous week.
Net soybean export sales were .102 mmt, down 29 percent from the past week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .488 mmt, up 27 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 22,607 grain carloads for the week ending August 3.
This is a 1 percent increase from the previous week, 10 percent less than last year, and 3 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average August shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $150 below tariff for the week ending August 8.
This is $54 more than last week and $56 lower than last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending August 10, barge grain movements totaled 567,094 tons.
This is a 16 percent decrease from the previous week and 40 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending August 10, 368 grain barges moved down river.
This is 74 fewer barges than the previous week.
There were 705 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 7 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending August 8, 32 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This is 3 percent more than the same period last year.
Forty-four vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 20 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of August 8, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $49.00.
This is 1 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from the PNW to Japan was $27.00 per mt, 2 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending August 12, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 2.1 cents from the previous week, to $3.011 per gallon.
This price is 20.6 cents less than the same week last year.