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Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Dec 09 2019

Crop Progress

Harvest is wrapping up in Colorado and Kansas; growers there report 99 percent of the sunflower crop has been harvested. In South Dakota, 79 percent of the crop has been harvested.

Crop Progress - Monday, December 9, 2019 State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average North Dakota         Harvested 60 51 NA NA South Dakota         Harvested 79 71 NA NA Minnesota         Harvested 94 87 100 100 Kansas         Harvested 99 97 94 96 Colorado         Harvested 99 98 97 99 Texas         Harvested 96 94 NA NA

Seed Quality High Plains 2019 2018 Oil Content 39.7% 40.2% Foreign Material 6.8% 4.7% Moisture 6.8% 8.7% Test Weight 28.4 lbs 28.1 lbs Northern Plains 2019 2018 Oil Content 42.6% 44.1% Foreign Material 6.0% 3.8% Moisture 11.7% 9.9% Test Weight 29.3 lbs 30.5 lbs

Mark Torno Re-elected to NSA Board of Directors

Mark Torno, CROPLAN Seed, has been re-elected to the NSA Board of Directors as a representative of the hybrid seed industry. Torno is the Diverse Field Crops Product Manager for CROPLAN Seed. He has worked for WinField since 1997 in different roles from sales agronomist to his role now as marketing manager for wheat, sunflower, and canola. Torno grew up on his family’s farm near Bottineau, ND and is a graduate of North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND.

Additions to Sunflower Crop Insurance Approved for 2020

NSA requested, and the USDA Risk Management Agency approved some additions to crop insurance for sunflower in 2020. Next year producers will have coverage for loss due to Sclerotinia bodies and dark roast in varieties bred specifically for medium seed size for hulling, such as conoil varieties. The market for these varieties continues to grow each year and this will give producers coverage for discounts they might encounter at the processing plants. In addition, Master Yields (MY) will now be available in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Sunflowers are grown in a longer rotation and have multiple types (oil vs. confection sunflower) which can lead to a very slow process to populate a grower’s APH data set. MY will give producers the option of obtaining more effective crop insurance protection for sunflower. MY will not be available to North Dakota producers as they currently have the option of using Personal Transitional Yields to populate their APH dataset.

Sunflower Breakout Session at Prairie Grains Conference

The Minnesota Sunflower Council is sponsoring a breakout session on Marketing Your Sunflowers at the Prairie Grains Conference, Thursday December 12, 2019, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND.  The morning session at 11:15 AM will feature Guy Christensen, Northern Sun ADM; Scott Stinar, D & D Commodities; Tim Petry, SunOpta Inc. and Mike Bolz, Scoular Company. The afternoon session at 2:30 PM will have representatives John Zietz, Cargill Inc.; Nick Boll, Red River Commodities and Neil Biever, CHS Sunflower. Representatives will talk about the markets, new crop pricing and contracting options for oil-type, confection, conoil and bird food sunflowers in 2020.

Upcoming Events

December 10-11, 2019 – Ag Horizons, Pierre, SD  December 12, 2019 – High Plains Committee Meeting, Goodland, KS January 8-9, 2020 – NSA Research Forum, Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND  June 23-25, 2020 – NSA Summer Seminar, Spearfish, SD

Markets

Sunflower prices are stronger than normal for this time of the year at the crush plants as a late harvest has crush plants searching for seed supplies.  In the past two weeks nearby prices are up 55 cents to $1.00 per cwt. with 2020 new crop gaining 40 to 60 cents. Birdfood prices continue in a holding pattern but have seen some upward movement of $1.00 per cwt. in some locations. Last year, harvest pressure and heavy producer selling caused prices to fall with nearby sunflower prices trading in range of $16.60-$16.95 for NuSun and High Oleic at $16.70-$17.70 at the crush plants. That will likely not be the case this marketing year as the sluggish harvest pace and slower deliveries have led to little harvest pressure this year. It is very possible that the market low has already been established and prices will remain relatively firm for the foreseeable future. In the past week, producers harvested an additional 94,000 acres pushing 2019 harvested acres to about 900,000 acres. This represents 74% of this year’s projected harvested acres and is behind the five-year average of 95%. Overall price direction will be determined by export demand news and South American oilseed production prospects in the near term. USDA will release its supply and demand report this week. Traders are anticipating that any significant changes to production, stocks and usage will come in the January report.

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, December 9, 2019 ($/CWT)   Deliver Last Year Last Week This Week Change 2019 NEW Crop Chicago Oil Nearby 28.52 29.96 31.36 +1.40 32.80 Fargo, ND NuSun 16.90 18.50 18.60 +.10 18.45 Fargo, ND High Oleic 16.70 18.85 19.00 +.15 18.95 Enderlin, ND NuSun 16.65 18.55 18.60 +.05 18.50 Enderlin, ND High Oleic 16.85 18.95 19.00 +.05 19.00 Goodland, KS NuSun 16.60 17.60 18.10 +.50 18.10 Goodland, KS High Oleic 17.70 18.60 18.85 +.25 19.05 Prices recorded here are believed to be reliable at the time of posting. All prices are subject to change. Contact these facilities for complete market details.

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, December 9, 2019 (dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)   Last Year Last Week This Week Change Soybean Oil 28.16 28.86 30.49 +1.63 Cotton Oil (psby) 31.76 36.96 38.59 +1.63 Corn Oil 30.00 29.00 31.00 +2.00