US ethanol production reaches highest point in 17 weeks

In Washington, according to EIA data as analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association, ethanol production averaged 969,000 barrels per day (b/d)—or 40.70 million gallons daily. That is up 11,000 b/d from the week before and the highest rate of output in 17 weeks. The four-week average for ethanol production stood at 932,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 14.29 billion gallons. Stocks of ethanol stood at 20.1 million barrels. That is a 1.6% decrease from last week and the lowest since the week ended 1/2/2015. Imports of ethanol were zero b/d. That is the fifth straight week imports were non-existent and the 20th time in 21 weeks. Gasoline demand for the week leading up to Memorial Day weekend averaged an astronomical 408.8 million gallons daily (149.2 billion gallons annualized). Refiner/blender input of ethanol averaged 905,000 b/d, down just 1,000 b/d from the previous week’s all-time record.

Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 9.95%. On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 14.692 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 108,143 metric tons of livestock feed, 96,411 metric tons of which were distillers grains. The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 5.70 million pounds of corn distillers oil daily.

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