Ethanol Production Plunges

Ethanol production fell 62,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the week ended Sept. 16 to 901,000 bpd. That was 2.7% below the corresponding week last year and the lowest weekly average since the week ended Feb. 26, 2021. Ethanol plants continued to slow operations amid downtime for maintenance ahead of new-crop supplies, but falling gasoline demand is also an issue. Gasoline demand was the lowest since February and 5% below last year, despite the sharp drop in pump prices from the peak earlier this year.

Ethanol stocks dropped 342,000 barrels to 22.501 million barrels, the lowest level since late 2021.