This article has been reprinted from USDA's April 30 Grain Transportation Report.
Export Sales
For the week ending April 16, unshipped balances of wheat, corn, and soybeans totaled 22.6 million metric tons (mmt).
This represented a 26-percent decrease in outstanding sales, compared to the same time last year.
Net corn export sales were 0.727 mmt, down 20 percent from the past week.
Net soybean export sales were 0.345 mmt, up 41 percent from the previous week.
Net weekly wheat export sales were 0.245 mmt, up 37 percent from the previous week.
Rail
U.S. Class I railroads originated 20,690 grain carloads during the week ending April 18.
This was a 7-percent decrease from the previous week, 16 percent less than last year, and 14 percent lower than the 3-year average.
Average May shuttle secondary railcar bids/offers (per car) were $110 below tariff for the week ending April 23.
This was $63 less than last week and $202 lower than this week last year.
There were no non-shuttle bids/offers this week.
Barge
For the week ending April 25, barge grain movements totaled 662,000 tons.
This was 0.4 percent more than the previous week and 56 percent more than the same period last year.
For the week ending April 25, 419 grain barges moved down river—6 more barges than the previous week.
There were 613 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 16 percent more than the previous week.
Ocean
For the week ending April 23, 35 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf—3 percent more than the same period last year.
Within the next 10 days (starting April 24), 43 vessels were expected to be loaded—8 percent fewer than the same period last year.
Fuel
For the week ending April 27, the U.S. average diesel fuel price decreased 4.3 cents from the previous week to $2.437 per gallon, 73.2 cents below the same week last year.