Ethanol Blog

Some upward motion in basis and the corn board caused prices of dried distillers grains to rise slightly since last week.

Of the 29 Midwestern locations DTN collects prices from, 14 locations reported their spot prices increased since last week between $3 and $5 per ton, while prices at 11 locations remained the same. Only four locations reported price decreases of $2 to $5 per ton.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average rose $2 per ton this week, from $232 per ton last week to $234 per ton this week. Although this is the first price increase in three weeks, the average has remained fairly steady in the past month, hovering between $232 and $246 per ton since the first week of June

Merchandisers told DTN that end-users were snatching up their July needs, which helped boost DDG prices, but the biggest factor pushing prices up was a rise in basis and corn futures.

Supplies are still available for now, but may move upward with some plants considering taking extended down time in late August/early September of 10 to 12 days, instead of the usual four to five days for regularly-scheduled maintenance. Speculation continues whether there will be sufficient corn for ethanol plants to run until new-crop corn begins to roll in, or how much plants will be willing to pay if tight corn stocks force prices up.

The value of DDG relative to corn fell significantly this week, from about 96% last week to 91.41% this week. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal also fell from 47% last week to 44.51% this week.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was $9.36 this week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $11.07.

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

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