Ethanol Blog

Spot prices of dried distillers grains remained unchanged once again this week, while trade was reported as quiet.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average remained at $178 per ton for the third week in a row. This is still the highest point the average has reached since early June 2014.

Of the 36 Midwestern locations DTN collects spot prices from, 23 locations reported their prices had remained unchanged since last week. Spot prices decreased at eight locations, all about $5 per ton, while five locations had price increases of $5 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN this week that trade was slow in domestic and export markets.

Some tightness in supplies was reported and some traders said they were sold out in the nearby, especially for February and March.

The DTN weekly spot price average has increased a total of $81 since the third week of October, resulting in buyers seeking cheaper prices and offers seeking high numbers. Consequently, no sellers are pushing hard to get product moved.

The higher prices, however, have also caused end users to reduce their inclusion rates of DDG in livestock rations.

There has been some talk of sellers "kicking tires," thinking about getting some export sales in before the Chinese New Year holiday from Feb. 19-25.

The value of DDG relative to corn actually fell this week, from about 135% last week to about 129% this week, due to DDG prices remaining steady and corn prices ring from about $3.70/bu. on Jan. 16 to about $3.90/bu. Feb. 6. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal remained unchanged at about 54%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was at about $7.12 this week, just slightly higher than the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at about $6.98.

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

(ES)

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