US weekly ethanol production and stockpiles surpass expectations

US ethanol production increased by 30,000 barrels in the week ending November 18, or 3% from the prior week to 1.41 million barrels per day (bpd), data published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed Wednesday.

The figure, which was driven by increased production the Midwest – home to the majority of the country's production capacity – exceeded analysts' expectations that called for production to be up around 11,000 barrels to 1.02 million barrels.

Over the week, full production equated to the consumption of 2.68 million mt of corn, up 80,000 mt from a week earlier.

Ethanol stockpiles also moved up week-on-week to 22.83 million barrels, up 1.53 million barrels, also surpassing projections for stocks to increase by about 6,000 barrels on the week to 21.3 million barrels.

Margins calculated through a model from Iowa State University showed that the estimated return over operating costs for the average Midwest-based plant was down by $0.19/gallon in the week ending November 18 to $0.33/gallon.

Corn prices for the week averaged $6.85/bu – a 35-cents increase from levels recorded a week earlier.

Finished ethanol prices meanwhile moved down by $0.04/bu to $2.44/gallon.