Ethanol scales back by 3,000 b/d

In Washington, D.C., ethanol production scaled back by 3,000 b/d for an average of 1.070 million barrels per day (b/d)—or 44.94 million gallons daily, according to government data released and analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association. However, the four-week average for ethanol production increased to a 35-week high of 1.079 million b/d for an annualized rate of 16.54 billion gallons.

Stocks of ethanol were 23.1 million barrels. That is a 0.9% decrease from last week—tightening for the first time in five weeks. Imports of ethanol were 8,000 b/d, or 2.35 million gallons for the week. This was the first time in 38 weeks (and first of 2018) that import volumes were logged. (The latest export data is as of June 2018.)

Average weekly gasoline demand shot up 4.7% over last week to reach a new record high of 9.899 million barrels (415.8 million gallons) daily. This is equivalent to 151.75 billion gallons annualized. Refiner/blender input of ethanol picked up by just 0.7% to 950,000 b/d, equivalent to 14.56 billion gallons annualized. As a result, the ethanol content in gasoline supplied to the market withdrew to a 4-week low of 9.60%. For comparison, ethanol blending hit 9.98% last week and 9.71% a year ago. Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production declined to 10.81%.