US ethanol production climbed 2.5% in the week ending November 22 to 927,000 b/d, matching the highest level so far this year, as makers of the biofuel boost output on cheaper corn costs, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Production was lifted by a widening spread between the cost of corn, the chief feedstock in the manufacturing of ethanol in the US, and the final selling price of the biofuel in Chicago, home to the country’s most active spot market for the gasoline oxygenate. The so-called crush spread, an indication of how profitable it is to turn a bushel of corn into ethanol, rose to $1.4/gal on November 22 from $0.63/gal on the previous week, according to Platts data. The crush spread fell to $0.91/gal on November 27, but remained above the average recorded so far in November of $0.62/gal. The crush […]