Ethanol Blog

After several weeks of rising prices, dried distillers grains prices seemed to stabilize this week as buyers snatched up product before the holidays.

The DTN spot price average rose a mere $1 per ton, from $260 per ton last week to $261 this week. Prices previously had been on an upward trend since mid-November.

Of the 30 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 23 locations reported their prices remained unchanged from last week. Only six locations increased prices about $5 per ton, while only two locations decreased prices slightly. One location reported no offers.

Merchandisers told DTN that buyers seemed to want to get supplies purchased before the holidays, while ethanol plants left prices relatively unchanged in order to make sure inventory was down before the holidays. Some companies said they were sold out for December.

If corn prices rise after the holidays due to lower stocks from last summer's drought, some plants make scale back production, making supplies tight and pushing prices higher into 2013.

The value of DDG relative to corn this week was at about 102%, rising from about 97% last week. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal was near 57%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was $10.44 last week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $.969

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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