Ethanol Blog

What seemed to be such a promising start to March coming "in like a lamb" quickly turned into a disappointing move and shift in the market "out like a lion."

Strong gains in ethanol prices were seen through the first two weeks of March which accounted to a strong rally and prices not seen since August 2012.

But the combination of summer pressure in gasoline demand and Thursday's USDA quarterly stocks report pushed prices sharply lower through the end of the month. The final straw in the ethanol market came on the last trading day of the month as corn futures tumbled limit lower of 40 cents per bushel following a bearish corn stocks report.

This quickly pushed ethanol futures to double-digit losses, closing 13 cents lower for the day Thursday. Traders are focusing on the potential of additional pressure seen early next week when markets resume.

This could continue to put a bearish spin on ethanol prices through the early part of April. Ethanol futures are still 10 cents over short term support levels seen in February, but following Thursday's market tumble, 10 cents is not much of a cushion at this point.

Rick Kment can be reached at rick.kment@telventdtn.com

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