The US ethanol crush margin jumped 8.01 cents in the week ended Monday to 21.45 cents/gal.
The increase since the last time S&P Global Platts published its crush margin tracker on October 7 came as soaring ethanol prices outpaced any rise in corn prices over the last week.
Platts assessed Chicago Argo at $1.6350/gal Monday, a 11.85-cent increase from October 7.
The front-month corn futures contract settled at $3.9725/bushel on Monday, up 10.75 cents from October 7.
A simple crush margin can be calculated by dividing the cost of corn per bushel by 2.8, the number of gallons of ethanol that a bushel of corn can produce. The resulting number is the cost of corn per gallon of ethanol.
US ethanol production averaged 963,000 b/d in the week that ended October 4, a 5,000 b/d or 0.52% week-on-week increase, according to US Energy Information Administration data.
S&P Global Platts Analytics forecasts ethanol production rose to 1.036 million b/d in the week that ended Friday.
Total stocks fell 1.995 million barrels in the week that ended October 4 to 21.224 million barrels. Stocks were 2.797 million barrels, or 11.64%, lower year on year, according to the EIA. The decline in inventory levels markedly exceeded market expectations.
Inventories fell in all five defined regions. Stocks in the Gulf Coast region led all regions, decreasing 806,000 barrels or 15.86% to 4.276 million barrels.
East Coast inventories dropped 606,000 barrels or 8.08% week on week to 6.892 million barrels.
Midwest inventories fell 532,000 barrels or 7.38% week on week to 6.672 million barrels. The Midwest is the host of the largest number of ethanol plants in the US.
West Coast stocks fell 43,000 barrels to 3.047 million barrels, as the EIA reported no ethanol imports into the region.
