This article has been reprinted from the Dec. 26 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending December 12, 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 1.71 mmt, up 96 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 1.43 mmt, up 36 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .869 mmt, up 73 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,709 grain carloads during the week ending December 14.
This was a 11-percent decrease from the previous week, 8 percent fewer than last year, and 12 percent fewer than the 3-year average.
There were no shuttle or non-shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending December 21, barge grain movements totaled 478,028 tons.
This was a 33-percent decrease from the previous week and 35 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending December 21, 388 grain barges moved down river—135 fewer barges than the previous week.
There were 706 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 3 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending December 19, 26 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—16.1 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting December 29), 40 vessels were expected to be loaded—29.8 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of December 19, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $46.50.
This was 1.6 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $25.50 per mt, 1 percent less than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending December 23, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 0.5 cents from the previous week to $3.041 per gallon, 3.6 cents below the same week last year.