RPT-US ethanol output dips nearly 2 pct

(repeats to remove CORRECTED in headline)

* U.S. ethanol production slips 1.8 pct to 888,000 bpd

* U.S. weekly ethanol stocks drop 1.9 percent

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Aug 31 (Reuters) - U.S. ethanol
production slipped nearly 2 percent last week and stocks were
depleted at the same pace as good demand met with tight
competition for high-priced corn, ethanol's key ingredient.

The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday
that U.S. ethanol production totaled 888,000 barrels per day in
the seven days to Aug. 26, down 16,000 barrels per day from the
previous week.

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Graphic of weekly ethanol production:

r.reuters.com/zyj53s

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Ethanol stocks fell 350,000 barrels to 17.89 million
barrels over the last week, the EIA said in its weekly report.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures have been rising on
strong demand and tight supplies ahead of harvesting of the new
U.S. crop. On Wednesday, however, the corn futures market was
setting back on some profit taking. The benchmark CBOT December
corn futures contract was off 4-1/2 cents at $7.70-3/4 per
bushel.

Ethanol futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ZEc1 were
also lower on Wednesday, with the spot month down 0.014 cents
to $2.908 per gallon.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Alden Bentley)