US ethanol production shrank 20,000 b/d to a six-week low of 900,000 b/d for the reporting week ended Friday, according to weekly data released Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration.
Specifically, weekly ethanol production had not been this low since the reporting week ended May 4, when it was at 897,000 b/d.
Ethanol inventories grew 519,000 barrels to 21.185 million barrels as every region in the US, except the Rocky Mountain region, experienced stock builds.
East Coast and Midwest inventories rose to seven-week highs, with East Coast stocks up 142,000 barrels to 8.366 million barrels and Midwest inventories up 364,000 barrels to 6.908 million barrels.
Gulf Coast stocks edged up 11,000 barrels to 3.191 million barrels as West Coast inventories jumped 16,000 barrels to a month-high of 2.457 million barrels.
Ethanol inventories in the Rocky Mountain region, however, edged down 15,000 barrels to a three-week low of 263,000 barrels.
With lower production and higher stock levels, the ethanol days of supply climbed 1 day to a three-week high of 23.5 days of supply. Days of supply are calculated by dividing weekly ethanol stock levels by weekly production.
The ethanol blending percentage in the latest reported week moved up 3.3 percentage points to its own three-week high of 93.2% due to a greater decrease in the amount of overall gasoline produced than the amount of gasoline blended with ethanol.
The amount of overall gasoline produced fell 529,000 b/d to a month-low 9.022 million b/d, while the amount of gasoline blended with ethanol eased off the previous week's record high as it shrank 185,000 b/d to 8.406 million b/d.
The amount of gasoline blended with ethanol is calculated by adding the volume of reformulated gasoline blended with ethanol and conventional gasoline blended with ethanol. The ethanol blending percentage is calculated by dividing the weekly amount of gasoline blended with ethanol by weekly total gasoline production.
The four-week rolling average of motor gasoline demand increased 15,000 b/d to 8.851 million b/d, but was 5.3% below where it was last year at this time, when it was at 9.321 million b/d. Year-to-date, gasoline demand was 5.4% below last year.
Ethanol production has the chance to keep decreasing in the coming months as two plants have already announced temporary shutdowns this year.
NEDAK Ethanol is temporarily halting production at its 44 million gal/year ethanol plant in Atkinson, Nebraska, for scheduled spring maintenance as well as poor margins, the company said Friday.
In addition, Valero Energy on Tuesday temporarily idled operations at its 110 million gal/yr ethanol plant in Albion, Nebraska, due to poor production margins, Valero spokesman Bill Day said.
