Ethanol Blog

U.S. ethanol producers are expected to have ratcheted back ethanol output last week by roughly 26,000 bpd after climbing 29,000 bpd the prior week to a three-week high of 978,000 bpd when the Energy Information Administration reports data for the week-ended Jan. 16 Thursday morning.

"Margins are terrible. It's break even at best, 20% to 30% gallon losses at worst," said Jerrod Kitt, strategist for the Linn Group in Chicago, noting Argo spot ethanol prices lost nearly 14 cents last week.

The expectation was muddled for the change in ethanol stocks, which rose 7.3% to a two-year high at 20.2 million bbl during the second week of January. One analyst projects a 1% to 2% build in U.S. ethanol stocks, while others estimate a 1% to 2% drawdown.

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

(ES)

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