Ethanol Blog

Ethanol futures closed the trading session Friday in a very normal pattern with November futures falling 1.2 cents per gallon, and closing at $1.717 a gallon. All other nearby contracts posted similar losses, but are trading at moderate discounts to the front-month futures. But given seasonal demand for gasoline and ethanol, this is no significant shift in the market. Proposed changes in RFS levels are not new or unprecedented and will involve future hearings and a lot of discussion in the weeks and months ahead. There has been talk about reduced RFS levels for several months, but the numbers leaked Friday seem to be timed at an interesting period when USDA crop reports are canceled due to the government shutdown. Corn prices were moderately affected with December corn closing 5 cents lower at $4.33 per bushel. Traders will reassess this over the weekend, as well as taking into account harvest pressure which seems to be adding additional concern about short- and long-term corn prices.

(ES)

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