Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jul 18 2016

Crop Progress

Sunflower planting is just about complete in Texas, with 98 percent of the crop now reported planted. Meanwhile, in Kansas, 94 percent of the sunflowers planted are now emerged, and 9 percent are blooming. In the North Dakota, sunflowers are blooming ahead of schedule, and 70 percent of the crop is rated in good to excellent condition.

Crop Progress - Monday, July 18, 2016

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Blooming	13	10	6	4
South Dakota
Emerged	98	82	93	NA
Blooming	11	NA	0	4
Texas
Planted	98	95	98	98
Kansas
Emerged	94	88	89	91
Blooming	9	2	7	8

Crop Conditions - Monday, July 18, 2016

State	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	1	5	24	65	5
South Dakota	0	4	49	47	0
Minnesota	2	5	42	45	6
Colorado	0	1	29	63	7
Kansas	0	2	26	67	5

Scout for Banded Sunflower Moth and Sunflower Moth

Sunflower moths have been detected in pheromone traps in North Dakota’s Stark, Richland, and Burke counties. Banded sunflower moth trap catches have increased at the trap sites in southeast North Dakota. Other traps sites are detecting lower numbers of adult moths (<30 moths per trap per week). To learn more about these insects, click here.

Markets

Sunflower prices have followed the price action on the CBoT. USDA released its July World Supply and Demand report numbers last week and they were close to the average trade estimates. USDA did not drop US2016/17 soybean carryout as much as the bulls had hoped. USDA estimated the US 2016 soybean crop near 3,880 million bushels vs 3,800 in June and 3,929 last year. Current USDA crop ratings would suggest an even bigger soybean crop. Weather conditions will be key going forward as August is the most important month for oilseed crops. Weather reports have been varied with some suggesting that in the later part of July, the Midwest could see hot and dry conditions. Soils have adequate moisture to sustain a few days of hot and dry weather. Other forecast maps indicate that the area will experience cooler and wet weather in the next 10 days. This has resulted in daily wild price swings on the CBoT as traders react to the latest weather news. The outside markets were rattled by the terrorist attack in France as well last week. The trade does not like instability and the impact of this recent event could linger in the market for a few more days. Weather, demand news and the fallout from the terror attack will direct the markets in the week ahead.