Ethanol Blog

Dried distillers grains prices remained steady since last week as the prices of competing feed ingredients kept prices level, as well as tight supplies and slow trade.

Prices of DDG remained relatively unchanged, as the DTN weekly DDG spot price average rose only $1 per ton in the past week, from $226 per ton last week to $227 this week. This is the second week in a row that the market has seen a $1 increase, as prices have hovered between $225 and $227 per ton since early August.

Of the 30 Midwestern locations DTN collects DDG prices from, 16 locations reported their spot prices remained unchanged since last week. Prices increases were reported at seven locations, and price decreases in seven locations.

Merchandisers told DTN that DDG prices are remaining strong due to high soybean and soybean prices, as well as tighter supply due to many plants taking scheduled maintenance shut-downs. The market also remains hesitant as everyone waits to see what the weather does for the remainder of the growing season and how harvest numbers turn out.

The value of DDG relative to corn this week was at about 129.85%; however, that is a distorted number. The abrupt shift in the DDG to corn ratio after July 12 is due to the transition from July corn futures to the lower-priced September corn contract. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal was at about 47.34%.

The cost per unit of protein this week for DDG was $9.08, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $10.09.

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

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