Ethanol Snaps Four-Day Skid as Corn Gains on Export Demand
December 08, 2011, 4:46 PM ESTBy Mario Parker
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Ethanol futures advanced, snapping a four-day skid in Chicago after a report showed increased export demand for corn.
Futures jumped after the Agriculture Department reported sales of corn for delivery before Aug. 31 more than doubled from a week earlier to 695,497 metric tons, signaling increased competition for U.S. ethanol producers to secure the primary feedstock for the fuel.
“It made a little push following corn up,” said Matt Royer, a trader at Biofuelsconnect, a Jupiter, Florida-based alternative energy broker. “We actually made a move up for the first time in a while.”
Denatured ethanol for January delivery rose 0.8 cent, or 0.4 percent, to $2.133 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade, the first gain since Dec. 1. Prices have fallen 10 percent this year.
In cash market trading, ethanol on the West Coast dipped 7.5 cents, or 3 percent, to $2.425 a gallon and in Chicago the additive declined 4 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $2.305, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Ethanol in the U.S. Gulf slipped 2.5 cents, or 1 percent, to $2.45 a gallon and in New York the biofuel lost 2 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $2.425.
Corn for March delivery increased 7.5 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $6.0025 a bushel in Chicago. One bushel makes at least 2.75 gallons of ethanol.
--With assistance from Jeff Wilson in Chicago. Editors: Richard Stubbe, David Marino
To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Chicago at mparker22@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
