This article has been reprinted from the Sept. 12 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending August 29, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 8.5 mmt.
This indicates an 18 percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales were negative .166 mmt, a low for the current marketing year.
Net soybean export sales were .069 mmt, down 27 percent from the past week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .312 mmt, down 53 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 22,060 grain carloads during the week ending August 31.
This is a 4 percent increase from the previous week, 3 percent less than last year, and 1 percent more than the 3-year average.
Average September shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $342 below tariff for the week ending September 5.
This is $54 less than last week and $223 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending September 7, barge grain movements totaled 357,212 tons.
This is a 51 percent decrease from the previous week and 72 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending September 7, 221 grain barges moved down river. This is 244 fewer barges than the previous week.
There were 679 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 6 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending September 5, 32 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.
This is 3 percent more than the same period last year. Thirty-three vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days.
This is 41 percent fewer than the same period last year. As of September 5, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $52.50.
This is 1 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from the PNW to Japan was $30.00 per mt, 3 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending September 9, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 0.5 cents from the previous week to $2.971 per gallon.
This price is 28.7 cents less than the same week last year.