This article has been reprinted from the Dec. 19 USDA Grain Transportation Report.

Export Sales

For the week ending December 5, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.36 mmt.

This represented a 21-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.

Net corn export sales reached .874 mmt, down 60 percent from the past week.

Net soybean export sales were 1.05 mmt, up 54 percent from the previous week.

Net weekly wheat export sales reached .503 mmt, up 120 percent from the from the previous week.

Rail

U.S. Class I railroads originated 23,262 grain carloads during the week ending December 7.

This was a 14-percent increase from the previous week, 1 percent more than last year, and 2 percent fewer than the 3-year average.

Average December shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $431 below tariff for the week ending December 12.

This was $206 more than last week and $169 lower than this week last year.

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

Barge

For the week ending December 14, barge grain movements totaled 708,597 tons.

This was a 36-percent decrease from the previous week and 17 percent less than the same period last year.

For the week ending December 14, 453 grain barges moved down river—260 fewer barges than the previous week.

There were 685 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 22 percent fewer than the previous week.

Ocean

For the week ending December 12, 32 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—3 percent fewer than the same period last year.

Within the next 10 days (starting December 22), 44 vessels were expected to be loaded—33 percent fewer than the same period last year.

As of December 12, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $47.25. This was 1 percent more than the previous week.

The rate from PNW to Japan was $25.75 per mt, 2 percent more than the previous week.

Fuel

For the week ending December 16, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 0.3 cents from the previous week to $3.046 per gallon, 7.5 cents below the same week last year.