Ethanol Blog

Spot prices of dried distillers grains remained fairly steady last week in the post-holiday market amid slow trade.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average fell just $1 per ton in the past two weeks, from $127 per ton the week before Christmas to $126 per ton. This was the first decrease in prices since early December.

Of the 36 Midwestern locations DTN collects spot prices from, 17 locations reported their prices remained unchanged in the past two weeks, while prices at 15 locations fell between $2 and $8 per ton. Only four locations reported price increases between $5 and $10 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN the past two weeks have been fairly quiet with only minor price adjustments up and down. Some merchandisers felt prices may trend down a little lower in coming weeks, as supplies have been a little snug and there have not been a lot of forward sales. Plants may realize they need to drop prices a little to get some sales on the books.

The value of DDG relative to corn last week shot up to almost 100%, from about 93% in mid-December. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal also rose to about 47% from 44% in the same time period.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was $5.04 last week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $5.60.

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

(ES)

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