For the week ending Oct. 5, barge grain movements totaled 507,298 tons. This is a 10% decrease from the previous week and 6% less than the same period last year. For the week ending Oct. 5, 314 grain barges moved down river. This is 41 fewer barges than the previous week. There were 669 grain barges unloaded in New Orleans, 2% fewer than the previous week.
During the same period, 35 ocean-going grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf — 13% more than the same period last year. Forty-five vessels are expected to be loaded within the next 10 days (ending Oct. 13). This is 26% fewer than the same period last year.
For the week ending Oct. 3, total inspections of grain (corn, wheat, and soybeans) for export from all major U.S. export regions reached 2 million metric tons (mmt). Inspections were down 1% from the previous week, down 22% from last year, and 27% below the 3-year average. Mississippi Gulf grain inspections continued to increase, rising 13% from the previous week. Inspections in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), however, decreased 30% primarily because of lower corn inspections. Overall, inspections of wheat dropped 23% from week to week, but inspections of corn and soybeans increased 11% and 5%.
In the past two weeks, diesel fuel prices decreased 3.4 cents to $3.047 per gallon. The drop in prices came after a 2-week increase of 11 cents per gallon. Crude oil prices followed a similar pattern. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported.
