The amount of US corn used for domestic ethanol production in the week ended May 20 was 99.330 million bushels, down just 0.21% week on week, according to S&P Global Platts estimates based on US Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday.
The EIA earlier Wednesday reported US fuel ethanol plant production of 946,000 b/d in the week, a decrease of 2,000 b/d from the prior week. The estimate of corn use was based on an ethanol yield of 2.8 gal/bushel of corn processed.
In the 37 weeks since the current corn marketing year began on September 1, Platts estimates the cumulative amount of corn used for ethanol production to be 3.863 billion bushels, or 73.6% of the Department of Agriculture's 5.25 billion bushel projection for the year.
To fulfill this projection, 95.175 million bushels/week are needed, according to Platts estimates.
In the current marketing year, corn use for ethanol production represents the largest single demand sector, with 39% of the total use.
