Ethanol Market and Pricing Data – March 5, 2019

Ethanol, Fuels and Co-Product Pricing

Market Outlook: U.S. ethanol prices ended last week up 0.5 percent and are up fractionally in early week trading. Midwest wholesale rack ethanol prices were down to end last week; they have recovered most of last week’s losses to start this week at 38.38 cents/liter (145.27 cents/gallon) through Tuesday’s trading.

FOB Houston ethanol prices finished last week up 1.7 percent; prices are down 0.5 percent through Tuesday’s trading from Friday’s close. FOB Houston ethanol prices are quoted at 37.88 cents/liter (143.40 cents/gallon). FOB Santos, Brazil ethanol prices ended last week up 2.0 percent; they have fallen from Friday’s close and stand at 53.94 cents/liter (204.20 cents/gallon) through Tuesday’s trading.

The FOB Gulf-Santos, Brazil spread narrowed slight from last week’s close through Tuesday’s trading and is currently at -16.06 cents/liter (-60.79 cents/gallon).

MTBE prices were up slightly to end last week; they are down 1.5 percent to start this week. MTBE’s premium to FOB Houston ethanol narrowed from last week and now stands at 7.85 cents/liter (29.72 cents/gallon).

BTX component prices were up across the board to end last week and continue mostly up through Tuesday’s trading: Benzene is up 2.4 percent, Toluene is up 4.0 percent and Xylene is unchanged. The estimated weighted average aromatic price is currently 66.56 cents/liter (251.96 cents/gallon), up from last Friday’s close. The BTX-Houston ethanol spread widened again from last week; the weighted average BTX price is 28.67 cents/liter (108.55 cents/gallon) higher than the FOB Houston ethanol price.

Gasoline and petroleum products were mixed to end last week and are up across the board through early-week trading. This week, RBOB futures are up: 84 (Houston) and 87 (U.S. Gulf) octane gasoline prices are up 0.9 percent and 1 percent, respectively. WTI futures are up 0.6 percent to $56.11/barrel and Brent futures are up 0.5 percent to $65.41/barrel, from Friday’s close through Tuesday’s trading.

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