This article has been reprinted from USDA's Nov. 14 Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending October 31, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 23.7 mmt.
This represented a 22-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .488 mmt, down 11 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 1.81 mmt, up 91 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .361 mmt, down 27 percent from the from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 21,798 grain carloads during the week ending November 2.
This was a 3-percent increase from the previous week, 7 percent more than last year, and 10 percent less than the 3-year average.
Average November shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $69 above tariff for the week ending November 7.
This was $144 less than last week and $319 more than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending November 9, barge grain movements totaled 745,366 tons.
This was a 13-percent increase from the previous week and 23 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending November 9, 468 grain barges moved down river—52 more barges than the previous week.
There were 780 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 26 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending November 7, 31 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—11 percent more than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting November 1), 31 vessels were expected to be loaded—28 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of November 7, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $48.50.
This was 2 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $26.25 per mt, 3 percent less than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending November 11, the U.S. average diesel fuel price increased 1.1 cents from the previous week to $3.073 per gallon, 24.4 cents below the same week last year.