Ethanol Blog

A lack of new export demand and falling corn and soybean meal prices resulted in prices of dried distillers grain prices falling slightly in the past week.

The DTN weekly DDG spot price average fell slightly in the past week, decreasing just $2 per ton, from $148 per ton last week to $146 per ton this week. This follows a $4-per-ton increase last week after a five-week downward trend.

Of the 36 Midwestern locations DTN collects spot prices from, 15 locations reported their spot prices had decreased between $2 and $10 per ton since last week. Prices at 17 locations remained unchanged since last week, while four locations each reported prices increases of $5 per ton.

Merchandisers told DTN that no new export demand, coupled with decreased exports from some markets, brought prices slightly lower in the past week. However, spot prices still seemed to be a hodgepodge of movement, with some prices remaining unchanged and a few higher.

Corn and soybean meal prices both fell last week, although SBM prices had recovered slightly toward week's end. Nevertheless, since both compete with DDG as a protein source in livestock rations, DDG prices must adjust slightly to maintain its place and not get formulated out.

Although the market seemed a bit bearish this week, the results of next week's crop progress report could dictate future price movement.

The value of DDG relative to corn this week jumped to nearly 110% from 103% last week, as prices of corn fell at a greater rate than DDG. The value of DDG relative to soybean meal fell only slightly to about 41%.

The cost per unit of protein for DDG was about $5.84 this week, compared to the cost per unit of protein for soybean meal at $7.52.

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

(ES)

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