At the crush plants the nearby contracts were unchanged to up 25 cents this week. Sunflower harvest has started in North Dakota and Kansas. In Texas, harvest continues to move along close to the five-year average. In the past week, producers harvested an additional 18,800 acres pushing 2026 harvested acres to about 47,000 acres. This represents 4% of this year’s projected harvested acres and is slightly ahead of last year at this same time. Traders are eagerly awaiting to see USDA’s first estimate of 2026 US harvested sunflower acres and total seed production that will be released next week. This week USDA will release its latest grain stocks report. Traders are expecting sunflower seed stocks to be up from a year ago but within the five-year average after last year’s larger crop. This report along with actual harvest reports will set the tone for nearby sunflower price direction in the near term. After recent wet and soggy weather, drier and warmer conditions are forecast in the Northern Plains for the rest of this week and much of next week as well. Conditions will be good for maturing sunflower.
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