This article has been reprinted from the Oct. 10 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending September 26, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 23.9 mmt.
This represents a 35-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .563 mmt, up 14 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 2.08 mmt, down 50 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .328 mmt, up 16 percent from the from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 17,936 grain carloads during the week ending September 28.
This is a 6-percent decrease from the previous week, 18 percent less than last year, and 26 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average October shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $63 above tariff for the week ending October 3.
This is $331 more than last week and $8 more than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending October 5, barge grain movements totaled 507,298 tons.
This is a 10-percent decrease from the previous week and 6 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending October 5, 314 grain barges moved down river.
This is 41 fewer barges than the previous week.
There were 669 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 2 percent fewer than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending October 3, 35 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—13 percent more than the same period last year.
Forty-five vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days (starting October 4).
This is 26 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of October 3, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $51.25.
This is relatively unchanged from the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $28.50 per mt, 1 percent less than the previous week.