This has been reprinted from the Jan. 30 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending January 16, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.3 mmt.
This represented a 28-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 1.007 mmt, up 28 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.790 mmt, up 23 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.696 mmt, up 7 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 19,373 grain carloads during the week ending January 18.
This was a 6-percent increase from the previous week, 16 percent fewer than last year, and 18 percent fewer than the 3-year average.
Average February shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $92 above tariff for the week ending January 23.
This was $104 more than last week and $191 more than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending January 25, barge grain movements totaled 469,672 tons.
This was an 18.4-percent decrease from the previous week and 3 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending January 25, 286 grain barges moved down river—66 barges fewer than the previous week.
There were 705 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 14 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending January 23, 30 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—14.3 percent fewer than same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting January 24), 45 vessels were expected to be loaded—16.7 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of January 23, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $45.50.
This was 1 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $24.75 per mt, unchanged from the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending January 27, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 2.7 cents from the previous week to $3.01 per gallon, 4.5 cents above the same week last year.