US Ethanol Prices Soar Amidst Strong Demand and Low Inventory Level
- 15-Sep-2023 6:12 PM
- Journalist: Jacob Kutchner
US Ethanol prices witnessed an uptick in the week ending September 8, 2023, since the inventory figure of Ethanol has dropped to its lowest since 2021 in the US amid high demand. At the same time, the total average production of fuel Ethanol has been up by 1%. Exports of Ethanol have also demonstrated an uptrend with nearly 19 percent, according to the data of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Furthermore, the corn prices used to produce Ethanol in the North American market have been traded high in the mentioned week compared to the previous week. The fuel Ethanol has been trading at a value of USD 810 per metric tonne, on a FOB basis, in the US in the week ending September 1.
US corn prices have increased by 1.72% in the week ending September 1 compared to the previous week. However, the ending stocks of US corn have been up by 19 million bushels to 2.1 billion in that mentioned week to cater to domestic demand.
Stocks of fuel Ethanol have reached 20.62 million barrels in the week ending September 1, 12000 barrels drop against the previous week's stock of 21.61 million barrels. Stocks have been down by 1.52 million barrels when compared to the stock for the same period last year.
The average production of Ethanol was 1.1 million barrels per day in the week ending September 1, up 5,000 barrels per day when compared to the previous week's production of 1.095 million barrels per day. The production has been up by 24000 barrels per day compared to the same week of last year.
The export volume of fuel Ethanol in that week stood at 81,000 barrels per day, up 13,000 barrels per day compared to the previous week's export data of 68,000 barrels per day. Since EIA started reporting weekly data on June 2023, data for the corresponding week of 2022 has been not available to us.
The US Energy and technology body BETO has allocated a total sum of USD18 million to support industry projects led by eight universities. The aim of these initiatives is to develop cost-effective biofuels that can effectively reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. "These projects have the potential to reduce and tackle the most challenging clean energy problems and will jumpstart the innovation towards a sustainable world," said Alejandro Moreno, Associate Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
The USDA has maintained the forecast for 2023-24 for corn use in Ethanol. However, their latest report of World Agricultural Supply and Demand estimation has reduced the estimate for 2022-23 corn use in Ethanol. The overall corn outlook for the fiscal year 2023-24 has been predicted with slightly larger supplies and ending stocks. Projected stocks for 2023-24 beginning have been 5 million bushels lower than 2022-23.
