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Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jun 18 2018

Crop Progress

North Dakota sunflower producers report 96 percent of the crop is planted, and 66 percent is emerged. In Minnesota, producers are also 96 percent complete with planting, with 62 percent of the crop reported in good to excellent condition.

Crop Progress - Monday, June 18, 2018 State This Week Last Week Last Year 5 Year Average North Dakota         Planted 96 87 98 87 Emerged 66 NA 76 ---- South Dakota         Planted 75 64 89 68 Kansas         Planted 71 53 62 60 Colorado         Planted 58 38 62 53 Texas         Planted NA 70 80 90 Minnesota         Planted 96 94 100 93

Crop Conditions - Monday, June 18, 2018  State Very Poor Poor Fair Good Excellent Minnesota 0 0 38 38 24

NSA Summer Seminar is Next Week

There is excitement about gene editing in the ag industry – it’s faster, cheaper, and more precise than conventional genetic modification and allows producers to improve crops without adding genes from other organisms. So what does the future hold for sunflower when it comes to gene editing? That’s just one of several topics we’ll cover at this year’s NSA Summer Seminar. This year is the 36th annual NSA Summer Seminar, planned for June 26-28, 2018 in Alexandria, Minnesota. There’s still time to register – click here to register online. Online registration will close this Friday at 3:30 p.m. You can still register at the door, but registration will increase to $400 and golf to $150 at the door, so register now!

Markets

Soybean prices have collapsed under the weight of the ongoing U.S.-China trade situation. Nearby soybean prices in many locations have fallen below $8.00 and in some cases below the cost of production. Last week the U.S. announced it was imposing a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese products. There is speculation that China will retaliate on a similar amount of US goods especially soybeans, which has led to the downturn in prices. Informa raised its soybean acreage forecast by about 500,000 acres from 89.4 million to just over 89.9 million acres adding further price pressure. Some in the trade think total planted U.S. soybean acres could be a bit north of 90 million this year. These facts compounded by mostly favorable weather conditions in the Midwest have created quite a headwind in the soybean market. Sunflower prices have held up quite well given all the market turmoil. Old crop finished mixed at down 10 to up 5 cents last week. New crop prices were down 10 to 20 cents. Overall the oilseed complex is under enormous pressure right now and this could eventually spill over into the sunflower market. If producers have not priced some 2018 new crop it might be an opportunity to do so as new crop is still every close to the season highs. China’s reaction to U.S. tariffs, crop conditions and weather will be the main market movers in the week ahead.