EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that E15 (15% ethanol blended gasoline) sales will be allowed starting May 1. This follows the pattern of previous years when fuel restrictions are lifted during the summer months. The move is expected to support ethanol demand in the US, which is considered positive for corn consumption.

According to the latest EIA data, US ethanol production for the week ending March 20 increased by 23,000 barrels per day to 1.116 million barrels per day. Ethanol stocks also rose by 763,000 barrels to 27.17 million barrels. Ethanol exports declined by another 55,000 barrels per day to 119,000 barrels per day, while ethanol usage by refiners increased by 13,000 barrels per day to 889,000 barrels per day.

The weekly Export Sales report will be released Thursday morning. For the week ending March 19, old crop corn bookings are expected to be between 0.7 and 1.5 MMT, while new crop sales are estimated between 0 and 100,000 MT.

Taiwan importers purchased a total of 65,000 MT of US corn in a tender early Wednesday.