Greeting from the CEO
The summer drought has given way to the fall harvest. Even with the tough growing season, expectations are still high for decent yields and good-quality corn to be harvested. The week of October 23rd kept Wisconsin farmers out of the field for much of the week, but it did help replenish soil moisture levels. USDA says topsoil moisture is now rated at 16% surplus and 71% with adequate moisture.
As of October 30th, ninety-six percent of the corn is mature and 35% of the corn crop has been harvested. The average moisture content was 23%, with 54% of the corn listed as good to excellent condition.
Wisconsin corn production is forecast at 515 million bushels, down 6 percent from the previous year, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. These reports are based on conditions as of October 1st, corn yields are expected to average 173 bushels per harvested acre, down slightly from the previous forecast and down 0.4 bushels from 2022. The area harvested for grain in Wisconsin is forecasted at 3 million acres, which is unchanged from the previous forecast.
U.S. fuel ethanol production expanded by nearly 1 percent the week ending October 20th, according to data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Stocks of fuel ethanol were up more than 1 percent and exports have fallen. U.S. fuel ethanol production averaged 1.04 million barrels per day for the week ending October 20, up 5,000 barrels per day. Compared to the same time last year, stocks were up by 7,000 barrels per day. Weekly ending stocks of fuel ethanol reached 21.398 million barrels. When compared to the same week last year, stocks were down by 893,000 barrels.
As of October 31, 2023, United Ethanol produced 49,763,996 gallons of ethanol. The plant also produced 115,992 tons of dried distillers grains (DDG’s), 63,728 tons of liquified carbon dioxide, and extracted 15,300,679 pounds of corn oil. Most of these numbers are decreased from last year’s ten-month numbers with ethanol up 131,690 gallons, DDG’s down 7,287 tons, carbon dioxide down 1,162 tons, and corn oil down 627,666 pounds from a year ago.
Dan and his team have been doing an exceptional job running the plant. We are fortunate to have this strong team in place and working on behalf of United Ethanol. I am thankful for their dedication and their professionalism which helps make United Ethanol successful.