Ethanol Blog

Ethanol supply is building in the Midwest-producing region while falling along the East Coast, showed government data for the week-ended Feb. 14 that was released today.

"This is all logistics," said Jerrod Kitt, strategist for the Linn Group, Chicago, Ill. "We're stranding rail cars, delaying shipments."

U.S. ethanol supply was up 1.0 million bbl to a 17.2 million bbl seven-month high the Energy Information Administration data showed. Ethanol supply in the Midwest jumped 500,000 bbl to 6.9 million bbl, a one-year high, while down 300,000 bbl to 5.0 million bbl for the East Coast, the lowest level for the region since the start of the year. The overall supply gain comes as ethanol plant production edged up 1,000 bpd to a 903,000 bpd one-month high.

"Most people kind of expected production to be a little bit higher," Kitt continued. "Production margins are there for them to go absolutely ballistic."

Industry sources said ethanol producers are starting to store supply at the Midwest because they cannot obtain railcars to ship product.

Myke Feinman can be reached at myke.feinman@telventdtn.com

(ES)

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