This has been reprinted from the Feb. 6 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending January 23, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.5 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 28-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 1.235 mmt, up 23 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.470 mmt, down 41 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.646 mmt, down 7 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 21,723 grain carloads during the week ending January 25.
This was a 12-percent increase from the previous week, 1 percent more than last year, and 2 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average February shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $138 below tariff for the week ending January 30.
This was $229 less than last week and $367 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending February 1, barge grain movements totaled 546,702 tons.
This was a 16.4-percent increase from the previous week and 54 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending February 1, 335 grain barges moved down river—49 barges more than the previous week.
There were 582 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 17 percent fewer than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending January 30, 29 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—14.7 percent fewer than same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting January 31), 43 vessels were expected to be loaded—17.3 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of January 30, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $45.00.
This was 1 percent less than the previous week. The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $24.25 per mt, 2 percent less than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending February 3, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 5.4 cents from the previous week to $2.956 per gallon, 1.0 cent below the same week last year