By Kirk Maltais

Daily production of ethanol in the U.S. has jumped, edging back closer to the near-record levels seen in late October.

In its latest weekly report, the EIA said that U.S. daily production of ethanol through December 3 hit 1.09 million barrels per day, up from 1.035 million barrels per day reported last week. This is more than expected by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones, who were projecting production to be anywhere from 1.025 million barrels per day to 1.06 million barrels per day.

U.S. ethanol inventories also rose for the week, climbing over 160,000 barrels to 20.46 million barrels. This uptick fell within analyst expectations, which were anywhere between 20.33 million barrels to 20.9 million barrels.

On Tuesday, the EPA confirmed its new mandates for blending biofuel into gasoline -- with The Wall Street Journal reporting that the EPA will require refiners to add 18.52 billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into gasoline for 2021 -- down from a mandate of 20.09 billion gallon previously set for 2020. Agency officials are also lowering the amount required for 2020 to 17.13 billion gallons, down from the 20.09 billion gallon-target it had set in late 2019.

Corn futures trading on the CBOT are up 0.4% in trading Wednesday to nearly $5.89 per bushel, this after beginning the day lower.

To see related data, search "U.S. DOE Oil Data: PADD Breakdown" in Dow Jones NewsPlus.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 08, 2021 11:12 ET (16:12 GMT)