Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: May 09 2016

Sunflower Planting Has Started

Planters are rolling in the Northern Plains. According to USDA, 6 percent of the sunflower crop in ND and 30 percent in MN is already in the ground. This is well ahead of the five-year average for this date. Growers are taking advantage of the good planting conditions to maximize returns by planting early in order to get the crop harvested as soon as possible. This is a good strategy for reducing blackbird damage. In many cases, early planting coupled with desiccating the crop when mature has allowed producers to get the crop all harvested before the birds even move in. Why take a chance when it comes to blackbirds when you can have a good sunflower crop?

Syngenta Names New Chief Executive Officer

Syngenta has appointed J. Erik Fyrwald Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1. He succeeds John Ramsay who has been ad interim CEO since November 2015. Fyrwald is currently President and CEO of the U.S. chemistry distribution company Univar Inc. Fyrwald spent 27 years at DuPont where he held positions of increasing responsibility in technology, manufacturing, sales and marketing, strategic planning and regional and global business unit leadership, including four years in Asia. In 2003, he was named Group Vice President of DuPont Agriculture and Nutrition, which included the Pioneer Seed, DuPont Crop Protection Products and Solae Food Ingredients businesses. Fyrwald has also served as Chairman, President, and CEO of Nalco, Ecolab, and most recently, Univar.

Register online at for the 34th Annual Summer Seminar scheduled for June 28-30 in Bismarck, ND.
Click here to register online.

Markets

Sunflower prices have rallied at the crush plants. Old crop has gained 35 cents and new crop added 30-40 cents. New crop NuSun cash prices are now at $17.40 at West Fargo $17.35 at Enderlin with Goodland at $16.95. Crushers are still offering new crop Act of God (AOG) contracts for fall delivery as well. Something else to keep in mind is oil premiums that are paid on sunflower. Oil premiums are offered at the crush plants on oil content above 40% at a rate of 2% price premium for each 1% of oil above 40%. For example, a $17.40 contract with 45% oil content results in a 10% price premium which pushes gross return to $19.15 per cwt. ADM is offering additional 2016 new crop Act of God (AOG) high oleic sunflower contracts at Enderlin and Pingree, ND and Goodland, KS. When high oleic contracts were first offered at the ND locations this winter they were snapped up quickly with many growers still looking to contract 2016 production. This is an opportunity to lock in prices and diversify your crop risk this year. On The CBoT, traders will be focused on South American weather and harvest progress. Also, USDA releases its newest supply and demand report on Tuesday.