Ethanol Inventory Rises

By DTN Staff

OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) -- Ethanol inventory in the United States moved off a better-than-3-1/2-year low, up 3% in the week ended Aug. 14 as demand was little changed and production increased for the first time in three weeks, climbing about 1%, according to midmorning data from the Energy Information Administration.

At 20.270 million barrels (bbl), domestic ethanol supply added 520,000 bbl in the week profiled, narrowing the year-over-year supply deficit from 17.6% to 13.2%.

Supply at the East Coast PADD 1 posted an 8.1% week-over-week gain, while the Midwest PADD 2 registered an inventory increase of 3%.

Blending activity dipped 0.1% in the week ended Aug. 14 with net refiner and blender ethanol inputs down 1,000 barrels per day (bpd) at 860,000 bpd, 10.5% below this time in 2019, the data show. Blending activity during the four weeks ended Aug. 14 averaged 854,000 bpd, about 104,000 bpd below the comparable year-ago period.

Ethanol plant production rose for the first time in three weeks, up 8,000 bpd to 926,000 bpd, which is 9.5% lower than the corresponding week in 2019. Four-week average output is down 102,000 bpd against a year ago at 933,000 bpd.

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