Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers grains fell $3 per ton in recent weeks, reaching the lowest level since mid-November.

A bit of inventory built up during the holidays and lower prices on the corn board helped push DDG prices lower this week than price levels before Christmas.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average fell $3 per ton last week, to an average of $255 last week, from the $258 pre-Christmas level.

Of the 29 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 20 locations said that their prices decreased in the last two weeks from pre-holiday levels. Decreases between $2 and $10 were reported, though most decreases were in the $5-per-ton range. Prices at nine locations remained the same since pre-holiday levels, while no price increases were reported.

Merchandisers told DTN that the price decreases were due mainly to ethanol plants wanted to sell off a slight build-up in inventory during the holidays. A drop in corn prices also influenced the DDG prices.

The value of DDG relative to corn last week was at about 103.37%, relatively unchanged from 103.72% two weeks ago. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal was at 62.64% last week, an increased from 60.32% two weeks ago.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG last week was $10.20, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybeans at $8.57.

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