Market News & Headlines >> December Corn-for-Ethanol use strong

December corn-for-ethanol use was up 5.3% from November and 13.1% from December 2022, according the monthly USDA Grain Crushings and Co-Products Production report released on Feb. 1.

USDA pegged December corn-for-ethanol use at 481.7 mil. bushels versus the  December 2022 use of 425.8 million bushels.  The usage was the highest for the month of December since 2017, when it hit 487.7 million bushels. September-December corn-for-ethanol use of 1.829 billion bushels was 7.1% above a year earlier and was the highest since 2017/18.

However, based on weekly Energy Information Administration ethanol production data corn-for-ethanol dropped off sharply in January, falling below a year earlier due to winter weather disruptions and weakened ethanol plant operating margins.