Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers grains remained steady once again this week amid a quiet market.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average remained unchanged this week at $130 per ton. This is the fourth week in a row that the average has remained at $130 per ton, and has hovered between $126 and $130 for the past nine weeks. This week's average is still the highest point the average has reached since the first week of September.

Of the 36 Midwestern locations DTN collects spot prices from, 28 locations reported their prices remained unchanged since last week. Prices at five locations increased between $2 and $5 per ton, while three locations reported price decreases between $2 and $5 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN Friday that the market has been quiet all week with prices not moving either up or down. Also, cost, insurance and freight (CIF) values have moved up $5-$7 per ton in the past week.

Trade with some countries like China has slowed in recent weeks because of the Chinese New Year celebration, which has now ended.

One merchandiser mention that one boatload of DDG has been sold to China, which doesn't necessarily mean China is back in the game. Chinese buyers still seem to be hesitant to purchase U.S. DDG pending the result of the country's anti-dumping investigation against the U.S., fearing the government will begin instituting additional duties.

The value of DDG relative to corn fell slightly in the past week, from about 101% last week to nearly 100% this week. The cost of DDG relative to soybean meal remained steady at 49%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was about $5.20 this week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $5.57.

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

(ES)

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