This article has been reprinted from the Aug. 29 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending August 15, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 11.6 million metric tons (mmt).
This indicates an 18 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .119 mmt, up 113 percent from the previous week.
Net soybean export sales were .026 mmt, up significantly from the past week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .595 mmt, up 35 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 19,840 grain carloads during the week ending August 17.
This is a 7 percent decrease from the previous week, 15 percent less than last year, and 10 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average September shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $131 below tariff for the week ending August 22.
This is $19 more than last week and $69 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending August 24, barge grain movements totaled 890,199 tons.
This is a 63 percent increase from the previous week and 1 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending August 24, 564 grain barges moved down river.
This is 216 more barges than the previous week.
There were 599 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 12 percent less than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending August 22, 31 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This is 9 percent fewer than the same period last year. Forty-one vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 18 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of August 22, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $51.00.
This is 1 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from the PNW to Japan was $28.50 per mt, 3 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending August 26, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 1.1 cents from the previous week to $2.983 per gallon.
This price is 24.3 cents less than the same week last year.