Ethanol output rose during the seven days ending on January 17 as inventories climbed to their highest level in nine months. Data from the Energy Information Administration says production increased to an average of 1.099 million barrels a day, up from 1.095 million barrels during the prior week. The agency said the Midwest, which produces the most ethanol in the country, produced a slightly higher 1.042 million barrels a day, on average, from 1.041 million barrels during the previous week. The Gulf Coast region’s output rose to an average of 24,000 barrels a day from 22,000 during the prior week. That was all the weekly gains as the output in the East Coast and Rocky Mountain regions remained unchanged from the previous week. Ethanol stockpiles jumped during the week to 25.874 million barrels. That’s up from 25.008 barrels a week earlier and the largest since the week ending on April 12. (Iowa Agribusiness RAdio Network Story and photo)