Slight decline for ethanol production

In Washington, D.C., ethanol production declined 1.9% (19,000 b/d lower) to an average of 1.005 million barrels per day (b/d), or 42.21 million gallons daily, according to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association. The four-week average ethanol production rate followed, easing 0.6% to 1.013 million b/d—equivalent to an annualized rate of 15.53 billion gallons. Stocks of ethanol retreated 2.2% to 23.7 million barrels. There were no imports for the seventeenth week in a row. (Weekly export data for ethanol is not reported simultaneously; the latest export data is as of December 2018.)

Average weekly gasoline supplied to the market increased 0.9% to 9.140 million b/d (383.9 million gallons per day, or 140.12 billion gallons annualized). Refiner/blender net inputs of ethanol pressed to an eleven-week high of 921,000 b/d—equivalent to 14.12 billion gallons annualized. This is 2.9% higher than the prior week and 1.2% over year-ago levels. Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production decreased to 11.00%.