While Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz are arguing over ethanol subsidies in Iowa just days before the caucuses, reports indicate ethanol production across the U.S. dropped in the past week reaching an 8-week low.
The Energy Information Administration sayd production averaged 961,000 barrels a day, a drop of 22,000 barrels from the previous week. But the stocks of ethanol also dropped by 2.3 percent to hit 21.4 million barrels. It represented the largest draw on ethanol stocks since October 2015.
The EIA indicated gasoline demand for the past week averaged 375.5 million gallons a day which translates to 8.941 million barrels daily. The refiner and blender input averaged 865,000 barrels a day which turned out to be the highest amount in four weeks.
It all calculates to the face that daily ethanol production represented 10.75 percent of the daily gasoline demand and that whas the lowest ratio of the year to date.
As for the ethanol debate in the Iowa presidential campaigns, Cruz is against the ethanol subsidies while Trump supports them. It even prompted longtime Iowa Governor Terry Brandstad to jump on stange at the recent Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit to proclaim, “I don’t think that Ted Cruz is the right one for Iowans to support in the caucus. He’s opposed to the wind energy tax credit. He’s opposed to ethanol and biodiesel.”
In the past, Sen. Cruz even co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard which requires growing amounts of ethanol to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. That’s why he received a ‘bad’ rating on the American Renewable Future’s presidential report card. Trump received a ‘good’ rating after telling those attending the RF Summit, “I am there with you 100 percent.”
