News

March corn for ethanol use, soybean crush higher

Corn for ethanol use continues to be a strong source of demand, even with lower returns for producers.

The USDA says 468.75 million bushels of corn were used for fuel alcohol production in March, above analysts’ estimates, and up 5% on the month and 7% on the year.

Production of distillers dried grains with solubles was 1,931,965 tons, a jump of 7% from the previous month and 13% from a year ago.

Industry demand for corn to be used in ethanol production is running ahead of the pace needed to meet USDA projections for the current marketing year.

March’s soybean crush was near the low end of pre-report estimates.

The USDA says the crush of 204 million bushels was up 10 million from February and 6 million more than in March 2023, but fell short of some expectations.

That’s likely partially because of heavy competition for soybean oil on the global vegetable oil market and slower than anticipated world demand for U.S. soybean meal as buyers await the larger crop from Argentina, the world’s biggest exporter of soybean meal.

Soybean meal and oil stocks were above a year ago.

The USDA’s updated soybean crush and corn for ethanol use projections are out May 10^th.