Ethanol Blog

Prices of dried distillers continued their downward trend last week, falling $3 per ton due largely to weak domestic and export demand.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average fell for the fourth week in a row, from $270 per ton in mid-October to $261 per ton last week. This marks the lowest spot price average since the second week in July.

Of the 30 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 21 locations reported their prices had decreased last week from the week prior between $4 and $10 per ton, although most decreases were in the $5-per-ton range. Nine locations said their prices remained the same last week; no price increases were reported. Two locations had no offers.

Merchandisers told DTN that demand for DDG has been low, especially in export markets. A general lack of interest left markets "trying to find the bottom" of the price range, one merchandiser said.

The value of DDG relative to corn last week was just less than 99%, about the same as the prior week. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal increased slightly to 56.38% last week from 54.41% the prior week.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was $10.44 last week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybeans at $9.75.

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

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