BNSF Railway’s Rachel Lemieux says shifting export demand created major challenges for grain transportation over the past year. Speaking at the Northern Corn and Soybean Expo, Lemieux said, “I think the biggest thing was just the lack of Chinese purchases for soybeans and having to figure out what to do with all of the grain,” said Lemieux. “We just had to be really nimble in making sure that we were able to get the corn moved out and there were still a lot of stocks in play from the year before.” With China returning to the market, Lemieux says export patterns are beginning to stabilize. “We will probably round out sending our exports to China here within the next month or so. Don’t expect that it’s ever going to be a huge, huge thing like it was in the past with that export window is going to continue to shrink.”
