Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers grains tumbled last Thursday with corn, largely due to the latest USDA report.

The USDA Quarterly Stocks report released last Thursday estimated approximately 370 million more bushels of corn than originally forecast. This bearish report influenced corn to tumble limit-down 40 cents, bringing DDG along for the fall, since DDG prices tend to mirror movement on the corn board.

The DTN weekly spot price average fell $3 per ton last week from the week prior, from $264 per ton to $261 per ton. This is the seventh week that DDG prices have hovered between $261 and $267.

Of the 29 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 16 locations reported their prices had dropped last week from the prior week. Prices at 13 locations remained the same last week as the week prior, and no locations had price increases last week.

Merchandisers told DTN last week that even with prices falling, the week was fairly quiet as everyone waited for the market to adjust. After the three-day Easter weekend, the market should be better defined.

Some merchandisers reported some continuing tightness through April and May.

The value of DDG relative to corn last week was at about 105.11%, rising from 100.85% the week prior. Again, this may level out once the market adjusts to the effects of the USDA report. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal rose slightly from 62.43% to 64.51%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG last week was $10.44, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $8.52.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.