By Kirk Maltais 
 

After declining for seven straight weeks, U.S. ethanol inventories were reported higher by the EIA this week.

In its weekly report released Wednesday, the EIA said that U.S. ethanol stockpiles totaled 20.11 million barrels, up 101,000 barrels from last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week had forecast stockpiles to fall to as low as 19.51 million barrels.

Meanwhile, daily ethanol production fell 11,000 barrels per day, to 926,000 barrels a day. Analysts had forecast production to rise as high as 952,000 barrels a day.

While this week's results defied analyst expectations, grains traders are thinking the data will reverse course in coming weeks. "With ethanol margins improving due to energies rallying and corn prices dropping, we look for a good recovery in production over the next few weeks," said Terry Reilly of Futures International.

Corn futures are higher in trading Wednesday, with the most-active futures contract up 0.6% to just over $5.20 per bushel Wednesday.

 

To see related data, search "U.S. DOE Oil Data: PADD Breakdown" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.

 

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 22, 2021 11:34 ET (15:34 GMT)

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