By Kirk Maltais

U.S. ethanol production surged for the week ended Oct. 8, jumping to above 1 million barrels per day to its highest level since late July.

In its latest weekly report, the EIA said that U.S. daily ethanol production through Oct. 8 hit a rate of 1.03 million barrels per day, up from 978,000 barrels per day reported last week. The uptick exceeds estimates provided to Dow Jones by analysts, who had forecast production to rise to as high as 993,000 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, U.S. ethanol inventories dropped within analyst expectations, with the EIA reporting that inventories this week are at 19.85 million barrels, down from 19.93 million barrels the previous week. Analysts were looking for stocks to be anywhere from 19.7 million barrels to 20.03 million barrels.

Corn futures trading on the Chicago Board of Trade are higher Thursday, with the most-active contract up 0.4% to just over $5.14 per bushel.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-14-21 1141ET