US Ethanol Stocks Fall

EIA: Ethanol Stocks Down 1.5%; Output Slides 2.6% Last Week

OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) -- Domestic ethanol inventories fell for the third time in four weeks, down 1.5% in the week ended Oct. 16 as production of the fuel tumbled after two weeks of higher output, the latest Energy Information Administration data show.

At 19.721 million barrels (bbl), domestic ethanol supply dropped 287,000 bbl in the week profiled, 7.9% below the same week a year ago.

Data show supply at the East Coast PADD 1 declined a second straight week, down 9,000 bbl to 6.384 million bbl, a three-week low, while Midwest PADD 2 inventory also declined a second week, down 112,000 bbl to 6.22 million bbl. The year-over-year supply deficit in PADD 2 widened from 8.7% to 11.4%.

At the Gulf Coast PADD 3, stocks dipped for the first time in three weeks, down 19,000 bbl to 3.607 million bbl and stocks along the West Coast PADD 5 fell 133,000 bbl last week.

Ethanol plant production dropped from a five-week high, falling 24,000 bpd or 2.6% to 913,000 bpd in the week ended Oct. 16, 8.3% lower than the corresponding week in 2019. Four-week average output slid 59,000 bpd against year ago to 913,000 bpd.

Blending activity, a measure of demand, slid from a better than six-month high, down 26,000 bpd to 838,000 bpd in the week ended Oct. 16, roughly 10% lower than the same week in 2019, data show. Blending activity during the four weeks ended Oct. 16 averaged 841,000 bpd, 87,000 bpd below the comparable year-ago period.