The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that both average daily production and weekly stockpiles of ethanol barrels decreased from the prior week.

In its weekly report published Wednesday, the EIA said that average daily production for the week ended July 31 was 1.107 million barrels a day. That's down from 1.133 million barrels at this time last year, which was a new all-time record high for ethanol.

Ethanol inventories were also lower, falling 202,000 barrels to 24.52 million barrels. Inventories landed below the range forecast by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week, who had expected stocks between 24.6 million barrels and 25 million barrels. Daily production was within analyst projections, which were between 1.096 million barrels a day and 1.143 million barrels a day.

Most-active CBOT corn futures are down 1.2% in morning trade, bringing them to below $4.60 a bushel. This is below the average break-even price needed by corn farmers, said Stephen Nicholson, head analyst of North American crops with Rabobank.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Nicholson projected the average break-even prices for corn grown in 2026 around $4.75 a bushel, depending on how the corn is grown.

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