The U.S. is expected to harvest the largest corn crop on record at 13.8 billion bushels this year, of which half is already harvested. Costs for rail freight have already surged in the month of October on high demand for U.S. soybeans and hard red winter wheat and slower turnaround times. Railways are getting 1.6 to 1.8 turns (trips) per month when normally they would be making between 2.5 and 2.8 turns. Delays on railways have also been cause by delays in infrastructure improvement projects because of bad weather, reducing the number of turns and increasing costs. Freight on BNSF has traded as high as $2,400 per railcar in October but has since fallen to $1,300. A lock construction project on the lower Ohio River has also caused delays. Southbound barge freight has risen to $28.04 per ton – up 28% from the three year average and mid-Mississippi River barge freight is 11% above average at $33.57 per ton. The bumper crop of corn is even causing bottlenecks at the local level as grain elevators are dealing with big yields at varying moisture levels causing storage difficulties.
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