This article has been reprinted from USDA's April 2 Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending March 19, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 23.6 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 27-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales reached 1.814 mmt, up significantly from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.904 mmt, up 43 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales reached 0.740 mmt, up significantly from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,996 grain carloads during the week ending March 21.
This was a 5-percent increase from the previous week, 5 percent less than last year, and 8 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average April shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $25 above tariff for the week ending March 26.
This was $50 less than last week and $316 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending March 28, barge grain movements totaled 514,104.
This was a 16-percent increase from the previous week and 23 percent less than the same period last year.
For the week ending March 28, 310 grain barges moved down river—37 more barges than the previous week.
There were 588 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 5 percent higher the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending March 26, 32 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—14 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting March 27), 39 vessels were expected to be loaded—7 percent fewer than the same period last year.
As of March 26, the rate for shipping a metric ton (mt) of grain from the U.S. Gulf to Japan was $39.00.
This was 5 percent less than the previous week.
The rate from the Pacific Northwest to Japan was $20.00 per mt, 6 percent less than the previous week.
Fuel
For the week ending March 30, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 7.3 cents from the previous week to $2.586 per gallon, 49.2 cents below the same week last year.