US ethanol use drops to 11-week low

Source: By Biofuels Digest • Posted: Monday, August 10, 2015

In Washington, according to EIA data as analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association, ethanol production averaged 961,000 barrels per day (b/d)—or 40.36 million gallons daily. That is down 4,000 b/d from the week before and an 11-week low. The four-week average for ethanol production stood at 971,000 b/d for an annualized rate of 14.89 billion gallons. Stocks of ethanol stood at 19.2 million barrels. That is a 2.1% decrease from last week, and the lowest since the first week of the year.

Imports of ethanol were zero b/d for the 15th straight week and the 30th in 31 weeks. Gasoline demand for the week averaged a robust 406.9 million gallons daily. Refiner/blender input of ethanol averaged 910,000 b/d, the second-highest rate on record. Over the past eight weeks, ethanol blending by refiners and blenders has averaged 13.83 billion gallons annualized—more than 400 million gallons above EPA’s proposed RFS requirement for 2015.

Expressed as a percentage of daily gasoline demand, daily ethanol production was 9.92%, a 12-week low.

On the co-products side, ethanol producers were using 14.571 million bushels of corn to produce ethanol and 106,603 metric tons of livestock feed, 94,967 metric tons of which were distillers grains. The rest is comprised of corn gluten feed and corn gluten meal. Additionally, ethanol producers were providing 5.65 million pounds of corn distillers oil daily.

 

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