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Bulk Grain Ocean Freight Rate Spreads
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-05T21:02:55.000ZThe data shows the cost of shipping grain from the U.S. Gulf and Pacific Northwest to Japan in dollar per metric ton.
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Refrigerated Truck Volumes
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T18:34:41.000ZThis data derives from USDA/AMS/Market News/Specialty Crops Program movement data, including only truck and import modes at domestic origins. It includes daily fruit and vegetable refrigerated truck volumes by origin district and commodity (from 2000 to 2010, data is weekly). The Transportation Services Division assigns a broader region to the origins in order to join to refrigerated truck rate and availability data. The data is collected by AMS market reporters. Truck shipments for all commodities and origins are not available. Those obtainable are reported, but should not be interpreted as representing complete movements of a commodity. Truck shipments are collected at shipping points and include both inter and intrastate movements. They are obtained from various sources, including Federal marketing orders, administrative committees, Federal State inspection service and shippers. Methods used include telephone interviews, faxes, emails, and access to other data sources. The movement data is subject to adjustment as new information becomes available. The latest data will generally be under-reported until revisions are made. Updates to Market News Movement data can happen daily, weekly, monthly, and can happen at any time during the season. The Transportation Services Division updates our data from Market News weekly, including historical revisions.
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Secondary Railcar Auction Market Bids
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T17:33:33.000ZThis dataset contains average weekly bids/offers ($/car) among grain shippers in the "secondary railcar auction market" for guaranteed rail freight in near and future months. Railroads auction freight in the "primary railcar auction market," and grain shippers can trade this freight among themselves in the secondary railcar auction market. These railcar markets evolved to enable rail movements of grain to be more responsive to market pressures. Published tariff rates tend to reflect the most likely market conditions to prevail given historical precedence and future expectations; railroads adjust many of their tariff rates only once or twice per year in order to set longer term prices that account for their fixed assets and optimize their networks. Furthermore, railroads are required by law to give a 20-day notice prior to changing tariffs. Therefore, rail rates are more insulated than other modes from weekly market changes and unexpected events, including weather or transportation service disruptions. But in the short term, as new information enters the market, the optimal allocation of railcar supply with shipper demand may no longer be most efficiently allocated by the prices set by tariff rates alone. This was a characteristic of rail service prior to the late 1980’s when service was priced at the tariff rate and available on a first-come-first-served basis. Forward-guaranteed railcar service contracts were an innovation first offered by railroads in the late 1980’s. These contracts offer guaranteed railcar deliveries within a specific time frame and serve as instruments against risk caused by unexpected events. They allow the supply of railcars to be continually reallocated among shippers through an auction bidding process as new information comes into the market, providing an alternative to first-come-first-served service purchased through tariff rates. There are two types of railcar auction markets—the primary market, in which service contracts are originally sold by railroads to shippers, and the secondary market, in which shippers resell service contracts among themselves. Sales in the primary market are administered by the railroads; sales in the secondary market are administered by third-party brokers. For more information on this markets, see the feature article in the February 19, 2015 Grain Transportation Report (link provided below).
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Vessel Rates
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-05T21:02:55.000ZThe data shows the cost of shipping grain from the U.S. Gulf and Pacific Northwest to Japan in dollars per metric ton.
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Quarterly Refrigerated Truck Volumes by Origin and Commodity
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T18:34:41.000ZQuarterly totals of refrigerated truck load volumes (tonnage) from U.S. origin shipping areas and cross-border movements from Mexico and Canada for individual fruit and vegetable varieties. Note: Entries marked zero tons were registered commodity movements, but the sum of all shipment volumes totaled less than 1 ton.
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Export Sales
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T17:33:31.000ZThis data is reported by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). USDA's Export Sales Reporting Program monitors U.S. agricultural export sales on a daily and weekly basis. Export sales reporting provides a constant stream of up-to-date market information for 40 U.S. agricultural commodities sold abroad. A single statistic reveals the significance of the program: in a typical year, the program monitors more than 40 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports. The program also serves as an early alert on the possible impact foreign sales have on U.S. supplies and prices. The weekly U.S. Export Sales report is the most current available source of U.S. export sales data. The data is used to analyze the overall level of export demand, determine where markets exist, and assess the relative position of U.S. commodities in foreign markets. The date field in export sales is weekly, based on the calendar year. However, the dataset also keeps track of marketing year export sales. Be cautious when aggregating the export sales data over the date variable to properly account for these factors. The turn of the marketing year often falls on a different day of the week then the weekly calendar year reporting. In this case, FAS adds an additional row (two total) to the dataset for that calendar week. One row represents that week's values which fell in the previous marketing year, while the other row captures that week's values which fell in the new marketing year. The "Marketing Year Start or End" variable labels these rows as "ENDING MY" and "STARTING MY", respectively, and is otherwise empty. This creates a double counting issue when aggregating some of the variables by calendar week. See our view, https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/885i-uek7, for an example of avoiding double counting to show total outstanding sales over time.
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Quarterly Refrigerated Truck Rates by Origin-Destination Pair
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T17:34:46.000ZQuarterly average refrigerated truck rates ($/mile, $/truckload) from origin shipping areas to destination receiving city.
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Weekly Refrigerated Truck Availability by Origin and Commodity
internal.agtransport.usda.gov | Last Updated 2019-12-12T17:34:46.000ZWeekly spot market availability for refrigerated truck movements at origin shipping areas for individual commodities. Availability is represented numerically as 1 = “Shortage”, 2 = “Slight Shortage”, 3 = “Adequate”, 4 = “Slight Surplus”, 5 = “Surplus”.