This 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.

This table derives from the grain price spreads data. It includes the latest week of data, as well as averages and standard deviations of price spreads over the past year for each commodity, origin, and destination combination. An indicator is calculated as a ratio, where the numerator is the difference between this week's price spread and the associated average price spread, and the denominator is the associated standard deviation.

Prices are a fundamental component of exchange and have long been important to the functioning of agricultural markets. Grain prices are closely related to grain transportation, where the supply and demand for grain simultaneously determines both the price of grain, as well as the demand for grain transportation.

This data has corn, soybean, and wheat prices for a variety of locations. These include origins—such as Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and many others—and destinations, such as the Pacific Northwest, Louisiana Gulf, Texas Gulf, and Atlantic Coast.

The data come from three sources: USDA-AMS Market News price reports, GeoGrain, and U.S. Wheat Associates. Links are included below. GeoGrain offers granular data for purchase. The GeoGrain data here is an average of those granular prices for a given state (and the "Southeast" region, which combines Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama).

This is one of three companion datasets. The other two are grain basis (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/v85y-3hep) and grain price spreads (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/an4w-mnp7). These datasets are separate, because the coverage lengths differ and missing values are removed (e.g., there needs to be a cash price and a futures price to have a basis price).

This dataset contains national and regional quarterly truck rates for short haul (25 miles) and long haul (100 and 200 miles).

Monthly movements of U.S. waterborne containerized grain exports.

The following Harmonized Tariff Codes are used to calculate containerized grains movements: '1001', '100190', '1002', '100200', '1003', '100300', '1004', '100400', '1005', '100590', '1007', '100700', '110100', '1102', '110220', '110290', '1201', '120100', '120190', '120810', '230210', '230310', '230330', '2304', and '230990'.

The data shows grain prices at select inland origin points and export destination ports and the price spread between them. More specifically, this dataset compares interior prices of corn in Illinois and Nebraska with the Gulf; Iowa and Gulf soybean prices; Kansas and Gulf hard red winter wheat; and North Dakota and Portland hard red spring wheat.

This figure use the Public Use Carload Waybill Sample to plot the tonnage hauled over different distance bands: 500 miles or less; 501 to 1,000 miles; 1,001 to 1,500 miles, and more than 1,500 miles. The filter can be changed to show these tonnages for different commodities (default includes corn, soybeans, and wheat), and for specific origin/destination BEA codes.

This figure plots the tonnage hauled in different car sets: 5 or less, 6-49, 50-74, and 75 or more. The filter can be changed to show these tonnages for different commodities (default includes corn, soybeans, and wheat) and to specify origin/destination Business Economic Areas (BEA).

This chart shows historical grain train speeds, averaged by month, to provide a sense of long-term trends. Use the filters to select different date ranges, commodities, or railroads.

Basis reflects both local and global supply and demand forces. It is calculated as the difference between the local cash price and the futures price. It affects when and where many grain producers and shippers buy and sell grain. Many factors affect basis—such as local supplies, storage and transportation availability, and global demand—and they interact in complex ways. How changes in basis manifest in transportation is likewise complex and not always direct. For instance, an increase in current demand will drive cash prices up relative to future prices, and increase basis. At the same time, grain will enter the transportation system to fulfill that demand. However, grain supplies also affect basis, but will have the opposite effect on transportation. During harvest, the increase in the supply of grain pushes down cash prices relative to futures prices, and basis weakens, but the demand for transportation increases to move the supplies.

For more information on how basis is linked to transportation, see the story, "Grain Prices, Basis, and Transportation" (https://agtransport.usda.gov/stories/s/sjmk-tkh6), and links below for research on the topic.

This data has corn, soybean, and wheat basis for a variety of locations. These include origins—such as Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and many others—and destinations, such as the Pacific Northwest, Louisiana Gulf, Texas Gulf, and Atlantic Coast.

This is one of three companion datasets. The other two are grain prices (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/g92w-8cn7) and grain price spreads (https://agtransport.usda.gov/d/an4w-mnp7). These datasets are separate, because the coverage lengths differ and missing values are removed (e.g., there needs to be a cash price and a futures price to have a basis price).

The cash price comes from the grain prices dataset and the futures price comes from the appropriate futures market, which is Chicago Board of Trade (CME Group) for corn, soybeans, and soft red winter wheat; Kansas City Board of Trade (CME Group) for hard red winter wheat; and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange for hard red spring wheat.