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AAR reports mixed rail traffic for July
Anybody in the Midwest knows exactly why grain is down. Look at the grain elevators. Every one of them is cleaned out. Empty. Other years, those same elevators are shipping out the last of the previous year’s harvest in order to make room for the upcoming harvest. But last year was very bad for grain in the most of the Midwest due to the drought. The article is correct when it says grain shipments have nothing to do with the economy. People have to eat when the economy is good. People still have to eat when the economy is bad. Agriculture, like the weather and sports, is independent of the economy.
Coal might normally be down this time of year anyway, but a further decrease of over 4% might be laid at the doorstep of the anti-coal policies of the Obama administration.