This article has been reprinted from the USDA's March 12 Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending February 27, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 21.6 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 35-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 0.769 mmt, down 11 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.345 mmt, up 2 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.542 mmt, up 42 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,611 grain carloads during the week ending February 29.
This is a 9-percent increase from the previous week, 1 percent more than last year, and 9 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average March shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $38 above tariff for the week ending March 5.
This is $198 more than last week and $1,758 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending March 7, barge grain movements totaled 531,957.
This was a 30-percent increase from the previous week and 47 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending March 7, 331 grain barges moved down river—68 more barges than the previous week.
There were 526 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 10 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending March 5, 29 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—unchanged from the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting March 6), 41 vessels were expected to be loaded—29.3 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of March 5, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $43.75.
This was 1 percent more than the previous week. The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $23.75 per mt, 1 percent more than the previous week.