“Domestic grain is relatively stable, but we are keeping a watchful eye on export demand.”

In context

“lopment wins that I mentioned on the last quarter's call. Intermodal volumes were positive in the quarter, driven by stronger West Coast imports, domestic business development wins and strengthen our Mexico volumes. Now let's start talking about 2024. Here are some key economic indicators that we're watching this year on Slide 10. These are S&P's forecast from their January report, and you'll notice that it shows a mixed picture for 2024. Industrial production looks to be flat. Housing starts are expected to remain challenged, but demand for auto continues to be strong. Turning to Slide 11. Here is our 2024 outlook as we see it today for the key markets we serve. Starting with bulk, we anticipate continued challenges in coal as natural gas futures remain volatile and inventories are high. Domestic grain is relatively stable, but we are keeping a watchful eye on export demand. On a brighter note, we expect fertilizer to be strong as repair that Canpotex Portland facility are now complete and commodity prices remain competitive moving into the spring season. And growth within biofuels continues to be driven by strong demand outlook, combined with a heavy focus on capturing new business, including incremental volume secured from Minnesota and Iowa origins. Moving on to Industrial. The construction market will be challenged to exceed last year's record volumes as we're seeing softness in parts of the market. However, we foresee the petroleum and petrochem market remaining favorable due to our focus on business development. And finally, for premium on the international intermodal side, we expect the market to improve year-over-year, but a contract we lost earlier i”