Grain Transportation Drives Record Profits for Canadian National Railway

Canadian National Railway (CN) experienced record profits in the fourth quarter of 2016 thanks to increased harvest volumes from both Canada and the U.S., despite difficult weather.

In the U.S., higher soybean yields played a critical role in the uptake in revenue for CN, while in Canada, it was the larger output of harvested prairie grains that contributed to total revenue for the year of $2.098 billion for CN.

The company remains optimistic about 2017 and expects to see moderate volume growth, assuming grain crops in both countries in that period are in line with the five-year averages. However, future net income will be dependent on both the farm yields and the price of crude oil.

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