This article has been reprinted from the Jan. 23 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending January 9, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 21.7 mmt.
This represented a 30-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 0.785 mmt, up significantly from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.712 mmt, up significantly from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.651 mmt, up significantly from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 18,304 grain carloads during the week ending January 11.
This was a 7-percent decrease from the previous week, 26 percent less than last year, and 23 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average February shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $13 below tariff for the week ending January 16.
This was $188 more than last week and $92 more than the same week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending January 18, barge grain movements totaled 575,414 tons.
This was a 10.4-percent increase from the previous week and 2 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending January 18, 352 grain barges moved down river—27 more than the previous week.
There were 621 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 23 percent fewer than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending January 16, 28 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—24.3 percent fewer than same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting January 17), 48 vessels were expected to be loaded—12.7 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of January 16, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $46.00.
This was 2 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $24.75 per mt, 2 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending January 20, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 2.7 cents from the previous week to $3.037 per gallon, 7.2 cents above the same week last year.