This article has been reprinted from the Feb. 27 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending February 13, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.4 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 33-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 1.25 mmt, up 29 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were .494 mmt, down 23 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached .346 mmt, down 46 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 18,325 grain carloads during the week ending February 15.
This was a 12-percent decrease from the previous week, 14 percent less than last year, and 16 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average March shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $142 below tariff for the week ending February 20.
This was $108 more than last week and $1,454 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending February 22, barge grain movements totaled 396,760.
This was a 28.3-percent decrease from the previous week and 2 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending February 22, 253 grain barges moved down river—121 barges fewer than the previous week.
There were 524 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 20 percent fewer than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending February 20, 27 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—22.9 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting February 21), 39 vessels were expected to be loaded—40.0 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of February 20, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $43.25.
This was 1 percent more than the previous week.
The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $22.75 per mt, 2 percent more than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending February 24, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 0.8 cents from the previous week to $2.882 per gallon, 16.6 cents below the same week last year.