Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers grains fell $3 per ton in the past week, as trade was slow due to fewer worries over this year's crops.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average fell $3 per ton in the past week, from $227 per ton last week to $224. This follows three weeks of upward motion, although prices only rose from $225 per ton in mid-August to $227 last week. Still, prices remain somewhat steady longer-term, hovering between $224 and $227 since the first week of August.

Of the 30 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 14 locations reported their prices had decreased from last week between $2 and $10 per ton. Prices at 15 locations remained unchanged this week, while only one location had a price increase of $5 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN that despite a bit of volatility on the corn board, the market is beginning to relax as crops in many areas appear to be in good shape. Some markets reported some tightness in supply, though not enough to keep prices more steady. Still, all eyes are on the new crop, as there are still many weeks until harvest in complete. Container transload capacity is reported as tight this week as well.

The value of DDG relative to corn this week was at about 130.94%, 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 46.58%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG this week was $8.96, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal of $10.12.

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

(ES)

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