US ethanol production fell 21,000 b/d to 999,000 b/d in the week ended June 2, Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.
Compared with the same week last year, production was 7,000 b/d, or 0.7%, lower, the first time this year production has been lower than the same week in 2016.
Total stockpiles slid, shedding 781,000 barrels to finish the week with 21.982 million barrels.
The draw was larger than the market expected, with the East Coast leading the way as the region shed 503,000 barrels.
The four-week rolling average of gasoline demand fell 248,000 b/d to 9.574 million b/d, while the four-week rolling average of the refiner and blender net ethanol input fell 5,000 b/d to 939,000 b/d.
The weekly refiner and blender net ethanol input tumbled to 909,000 b/d, a 41,000 b/d decrease.
The four-week rolling average of the ethanol blending rate -- calculated by dividing the four-week rolling averages of the net ethanol input and gasoline demand -- increased to 9.81% from 9.61%, 0.19 percentage points above the blend wall.
The blend wall is the notional 10% limit on ethanol blending driven by infrastructure and policy constraints.
