Grain Transportation Overview by Sector: 10/3/19

This article has been reprinted from the Oct. 3 USDA Grain Transportation Report.

Export Sales

For the week ending September 19, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.9 mmt.

This indicates a 37-percent decrease in outstanding sales from the same time last year.

Net corn export sales reached .494 mmt, down 64 percent from the past week. Net soybean export sales were 1.04 mmt, down 40 percent from the previous week.

Net weekly wheat export sales reached .283 mmt, down 1 percent from the from the previous week.

Rail

U.S. Class I railroads originated 19,018 grain carloads during the week ending September 21.

This is a 4-percent increase from the previous week, 18 percent less than last year, and 16 percent lower than the 3-year average.

Average October shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $269 below tariff for the week ending September 26.

This is $100 less than last week and $569 lower than this week last year.

There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.

Barge

For the week ending September 28, barge grain movements totaled 564,835 tons.

This is a 13-percent increase from the previous week and 36 percent more than the same period last year.

For the week ending September 28, 355 grain barges moved down river.

This is 28 more barges than the previous week.

There were 681 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 8 percent more than the previous week.

Ocean

For the week ending September 26, 29 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf.

This is 9 percent fewer than the same period last year.

Thirty-nine vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days (starting September 27).

This is 38 percent fewer than the same period last year.

As of September 26, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $51.50.

This is 1 percent less than the previous week.

The rate from PNW to Japan was $28.75 per mt, 3 percent less than the previous week.

Fuel

For the week ending September 30, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 1.5 cents from the previous week to $3.066 per gallon.

This price is 24.7 cents less than the same week last year.