US ethanol production eases, but remains strong year-on-year: EIA

US ethanol production has fallen for the first time in five weeks, slowing by 3,000 barrels a day in the week ending November 10, to 1.054 million barrels, data released Wednesday by the US Energy Information Administration has shown.

While net production is down overall, production in the Midwest rose fractionally week-on-week, 966,000 b/d to 967,000 b/d, a potential sign of the substantial US corn crop harvest staying within the region as weather closes in.

Production in the US Gulf PADD saw the main drop, falling by 4,000 b/d to 24,000 b/d.

Ethanol stocks increased marginally to 21.5 million barrels, a rise of 200,000 barrels on the previous week, but nearly 3 million barrels more than at the same point in 2016.

The East and West coast PADDs 1 and 5 saw the biggest increase in stocks, rising by just under a million barrels, while the Midwest’s PADD 2 and the Gulf’s PADD 3 saw drawn stocks, losing 300,000 barrels and 400,000 barrels to 7.8 million and 3.4 million barrels respectively.