Jan 10, 2022
Despite a slight drop, U.S. ethanol production kept above the million barrels per day level for the last week of 2021. Production maintained a million barrels per day for 12 weeks in a row the last half of the year, for a total of 24 weeks in 2021.
According to EIA data analyzed by the Renewable Fuels Association for the week ending December 31, ethanol production eased by 11,000 barrels per day (b/d), or 1.0%, to 1.048 million b/d, equivalent to 44.02 million gallons daily. Production was 12.1% above the same week last year, which was affected by the pandemic, but 1.3% less than the same week two years ago. The four-week average ethanol production volume decreased 1.0% to 1.061 million b/d, equivalent to an annualized rate of 16.27 billion gallons (bg).
Ethanol stocks jumped 3.3% to a twenty-week high of 21.4 million barrels. Stocks were 8.3% below the year-ago level and 4.9% less than the same week two years ago
In 2020, ethanol production was over a million barrels per day for the first 12 weeks of the year but never hit that mark again after COVID struck and total production for the year was under 14 billion gallons, the lowest in more than five years. Production this year is expected to be well above 15 billion gallons, but not as high as the record 16 billion set in 2018.
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