The forecast for propane supply is looking good, according to GROWMARK’s manager of propane operations.
GROWMARK has been concentrating on keeping tanks filled and making sure product is in place so farmers have plenty of propane to get through the grain drying season. Dan Pannier with GROWMARK says the expectation is we will have an adequate supply of propane this year after a challenging Fall in 2019.
?Propane in general, if you were to ask me 45 or 60 days ago, I was slightly concerned about the supply in the Midwest overall and the Conway, Kansas inventory,? Pannier said. ?We were running somewhere between 10 and 20 percent behind last year and the five-year average, which was very concerning to me. Over the last month and a half to two months, that story has changed quite a bit.?
Pannier says Midwest supply is now about 1.8 percent over the five-year average, and only 1.8 percent behind year ago inventories.
?You kind of look at that and I start to feel comfortable about the Midwest inventories,? Pannier said. ?Propane inventories overall right now in the US is back up to around 96 million. So, that starts to make you feel pretty good too.?
The bulk of harvest season is rapidly approaching, and Pannier says GROWMARK is here to help farmers for all of their propane needs.
?We have made several investments in pipeline terminals both in Missouri and Illinois,? he said. ?We?ve also expanded into some rail terminals and we have four of them total now. We did acquire a truck in and truck out terminal in Iowa. It holds a little shy of a million gallons of storage up there. We have kind of positioned ourselves to be a very reliable supplier in the time of needs.?
If any Iowa farmers would like to get in touch with GROWMARK about propane, contact Pannier by emailing dpannier@growmark.com.
