This article has been reprinted from the March 19 USDA Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending March 5 unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 34-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 1.471 mmt, up 91 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.303 mmt, down 12 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.452 mmt, down 17 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,863 grain carloads during the week ending March 7.
This was a 1-percent increase from the previous week, 9 percent more than last year, and 5 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average March shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $131 below tariff for the week ending March 12.
This was $169 less than last week and $1,748 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending March 14, barge grain movements totaled 560,100.
This was a 5-percent increase from the previous week and 15 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending March 14, 346 grain barges moved down river—15 more barges than the previous week.
There were 562 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 7 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending March 12, 39 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—30 percent more than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting March 13), 42 vessels were expected to be loaded—33.3 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of March 12, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $43.25.
This was 1 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from PNW to Japan was $23.25 per mt, 2 percent less than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending March 16, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 8.1 cents from the previous week to $2.733 per gallon, 33.7 cents below the same week last year.