This article has been reprinted from the Dec. 5 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending November 28, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.3 mmt.
This represents a 22-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached .546 mmt, down 32 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were .684 mmt, down 59 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .228 mmt, down 63 percent from the from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,420 grain carloads during the week ending November 30.
This was an 8-percent decrease from the previous week, 9 percent less than last year, and 16 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average December shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $638 below tariff for the week ending December 5.
This was $258 less than last week and $522 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending December 7, barge grain movements totaled 1,103,696 tons.
This was an 8-percent increase from the previous week and 41 percent more than the same period last year.
Ocean
For the week ending December 5, 31 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf, unchanged from the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting December 6), 43 vessels were expected to be loaded—33 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of December 5, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $46.75.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $25.25 per mt.
Fuel
For the week ending December 9, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 2.1 cents from the previous week to $3.049 per gallon, 11.2 cents below the same week last year.