WASHINGTON, DC – Ethanol production moved higher last week, the fifth week in a row with an increase.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration says production averaged 765,000 barrels a day, up 41,000 on the week for the highest average since March because of blending demand rising slowly as COVID-19 related restrictions relax. that is still 279,000 barrels below a year ago.
Ethanol stocks were down 700,000 barrels to 22.476 million, the tightest supply since the first week of the year and 77,000 barrels less than this time last year.
States like South Dakota and others in the Midwest have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic that decreased global demand for ethanol blended gasoline. The pandemic emerged at a time producers were already suffering from poor market conditions owing to the trade war with China and a glut of oil production during a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
In 2019, the state ranked sixth in the nation in ethanol production capacity. The USDA’s next corn for ethanol use estimate is out June 11th.
