Refiner and blender input of ethanol again decreased this week, tumbling to a 162-week low, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Input diminished by 7 percent to 795,000 barrels per day (b/d), equivalent to 12.19 billion gallons annualized.
It’s ethanol’s weakest demand in more than two years. The ethanol content in gasoline supplied to the market averaged 9.02 percent, down from 9.88 percent the previous week. Ethanol’s share of the gasoline pool has not been this small since Dec. 4, 2015.
U.S. ports received no ethanol imports for the fifth consecutive week.
Production dipped below 1 million b/d for the first time in 13 weeks. The industry produced 996,000 b/d, down 37,000 b/d. The biofuel showed a four-week average production of 1.049 million b/d for an annualized rate of 16.08 billion gallons. Daily ethanol production decreased to 11.3 percent.
Average weekly gasoline demand rebounded with a 1.9 percent increase to 370.2 million gallons (8.814 million barrels) daily. This is equivalent to 135.1 billion gallons annualized.
Stocks of ethanol were 22.7 million barrels showing a slight increase of 0.4 percent from the previous week.
