Ethanol Blog

Data released Wednesday morning from the EIA posted increases in overall ethanol production and overall stocks through the end of last week. This moved total stocks through the first week of February to 718.2 million gallons.

This is a 2.4% bounce over levels seen at the end of January, but is still 12.5% under year-ago levels. The reduced ethanol supplies for the year are being eroded by the increasing production levels seen in the market. Weekly ethanol production increased nearly 300,000 gallons from the week previous, and is 14.3% over year-ago levels.

Although demand for ethanol is starting to creep into the market as the summer driving season approaches, the gap between 2013 and 2014 levels is likely to narrow. This could help to keep prices choppy over the near future with the focus split between summer expectations and weekly changes in both production and inventory data.

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

(ES)

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