U.S. ethanol production has been over a million gallons again for the last three weeks, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

After five weeks of below a million gallons, production picked up again at the beginning of May. As a result, the four-week average for ethanol production as of May 19 was just over a million gallons, for an annualized rate of 15.44 billion gallons.

The first week of May also saw the first ethanol imports in 37 weeks. Imports of ethanol totaled 28,000 b/d the week of May 5 but dropped to zero again the past two weeks.

Average weekly gasoline demand surged to 407.6 million gallons (9.704 million barrels) daily last week, the highest level since mid-August 2016. However, refiner/blender input of ethanol dipped slightly from last week’s 40-week high, falling 0.2% to 949,000 b/d.