Ethanol production jumped to the highest level in more than four months and stockpiles increased last week, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Output of the biofuel increased to an average of 958,000 barrels a day in the week that ended on July 24, the EIA said in a report.

That’s up from 908,000 barrels a week earlier and the highest level since the seven days that ended on March 20.

In the Midwest, by far the biggest producing region, ethanol production surged to an average of 909,000 barrels a day from 860,000 barrels a week earlier, the agency said.

East Coast production increased to 14,000 barrels a day, on average, from 13,000 barrels a week earlier, and Gulf Coast output rose to 17,000 barrels a day from 16,000 the previous week.

Rocky Mountain and West Coast output, meanwhile, each declined by 1,000 barrels to averages of 9,000 barrels a day and 8,000 barrels a day, respectively.

Stockpiles, meanwhile, jumped to 20.272 million barrels last week from 19.801 million barrels, the EIA said in its report.

In company news, Valero Energy, which operates 14 ethanol plants with a capacity of 1.73 billion gallons a year, said this morning that revenue in the third quarter dropped to $10.4 billion from $28.9 billion a year earlier.

Of that, Valero’s ethanol business generated $581 million in revenue.

The company said its ethanol segment reported an adjusted operating loss of $20 million. Production in the three months that ended on June 30 came in at an average of 2.3 million gallons per day, about half what it was in the same quarter last year.

“The decrease in adjusted operating income was attributed primarily to lower margins resulting from lower ethanol prices and lower throughput,” Valero said in a statement this morning.

Source: Agriculture.com