This article has been reprinted from the Oct. 17 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending October 3, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 24.8 mmt.
This represents a 31-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .284 mmt, down 49 percent from the past week. Net soybean export sales were 2.09 mmt, unchanged from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .522 mmt, up 59 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 19,698 grain carloads during the week ending October 5.
This is a 10-percent increase from the previous week, 13 percent less than last year, and 20 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average October shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $31 above tariff for the week ending October 10.
This is $31 less than last week and $131 more than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending October 12, barge grain movements totaled 519,856 tons.
This is a 2.5-percent increase from the previous week and 1 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending October 12, 327 grain barges moved down river.
This is 13 more barges than the previous week.
There were 736 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 10 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending October 10, 31 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—21 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Forty-five vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days (starting October 11).
This is 30 percent fewer than the same period last year. As of October 10, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $51.50.
This is relatively unchanged from the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $28.50 per mt, unchanged from the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending October 14, the U.S. average diesel fuel price increased 0.4 cents from the previous week to $3.051 per gallon.
This price is 34.3 cents less than the same week last year.