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USDA: corn for ethanol use down in March

Corn for ethanol consumption slowed down in March, but the full impact of plant closures won’t really start to show up until April’s report. The USDA says 412 million bushels of corn were used for fuel alcohol in March, a decrease of 5% on the month and 7% on the year as blending demand declined because of stay at home and social distancing restrictions related to COVID-19. That also lowered production of distillers dried grains with solubles, a component of some feed rations for livestock, with production at 1.66 million tons, down 9% from February and 11% from March 2019. Corn consumption for beverage alcohol use was up sharply.

The USDA is expected to lower its’ corn for ethanol use estimate in the next set of supply and demand estimates out on the 12th.