Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers grains have been steadily rising in recent weeks and this week is no exception.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price rose another $3 per ton this week, from $266 per ton last week to $269 per ton this week. This latest price hike brings recent increases to a total of $14 per ton in the past four weeks. The $269 per ton average is the highest DDG prices have reached since mid-October.

Of the 29 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 14 reported their prices had increased this week between $1 and $10 per ton, though most price increases were in the $5-per-ton-range. Prices at 13 locations remained the same as last week, and only two locations had price decreases of $2-$3 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN that this week's price increases were largely due to tight availability, especially in the nearby contracts. Some plants may be sold out for the rest of January. Offers for February were either steady or up a couple dollars. A small increase in rail values may have caused a little resistance against price increases this week as well.

The value of DDG relative to corn rose perilously high, increasing from 102.80% last week to 104% this week. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal was virtually unchanged, from 64.25% last week to 64.87% this week.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was $10.76 this week, while the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal was $8.73.

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

(ES)

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