Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Jul 06 2021

Crop Progress - Tuesday, July 6, 2021

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Emerged	85	80	91	94
Kansas
Planted	93	97	92	91
Colorado
Planted	97	92	97	94
Texas
Planted	90	83	83	88
Harvested	9	7	9	NA

Crop Conditions - Tuesday, July 6, 2021

State	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	4	26	52	16	2
Minnesota	2	6	33	57	2
Colorado	1	7	40	42	10

Consider cattail control

July to mid-August is a good time to remove blackbird roosting locations, such as marshes sloughs and cattails. Cattails serve as blackbird habitat, so it is in the sunflower producer’s best interest to cut them down or spray herbicides to get rid of them as much as possible. Visit www.ag.ndsu.edu/weeds/weed-control-guides/nd-weed-control-guide-1 for more information on using herbicides.

Grower report

Scott Nelson’s high oleic sunflower fields near Lakota, in northeastern North Dakota are doing well for the most part. Sunflower emergence was uneven as it was with other crops. Topsoil is dry, but he has good subsoil moisture. He is optimistic his sunflowers can handle the drought conditions his area is facing. Nelson says so far, he has not noticed any bug or disease issues. Grasshoppers could be an issue down the road as a few are starting to be seen in fields.

Markets

The sunflower market continued to claw back recent losses this week. Nearby prices were mixed at down 15 cents to up 75 cents per cwt. New crop NuSun and high oleic also ended mixed at down 25 to up 80 cents. USDA released its planted acres report last week. Area planted to sunflower in 2021 totals 1.38 million acres, down 20 percent from 2020. Harvested area is expected to decrease 21 percent from last year to 1.31 million acres. Planted area of oil type varieties, at 1.25 million acres, is down 16 percent from 2020, and harvested area is expected to decrease 17 percent from last year to 1.19 million acres. Planted acreage of non-oil varieties, estimated at 130,000 is down 43 percent from last year. Harvested area is expected to decrease 43 percent from last year to 120,500 acres. On the plus side, planted acres were 13 percent higher than the agency’s March estimate of 1.22 million acres, a difference of 160,000 acres. Compared with the March planting intentions report growers added 167,000 oil type acres with confection plantings losing only 7,000 acres. The state with the largest increase from the March report is North Dakota, where planted area increased by 122,000 acres compared with March figures. Growers in five of the eight major sunflower-producing states increased sunflower acreage since the March outlook was released. With the release of the USDA report, the key to oilseed prices going forward will be U.S. summer weather and demand news.

Canada sunflower acres decrease

According to Statistics Canada data, Canadian farmers planted 77,400 acres of sunflowers this spring, which is down 31 percent from 2020. Last year Canadian farmers planted 111,900 acres of sunflower. The 2021 acreage is about equal to the five-year average of 78,800 acres. The majority of Canada’s sunflower crop is grown in Manitoba, with production also in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Central Garden & Pet acquires D&D Commodities Ltd.

Central Garden & Pet announced that it has acquired D&D Commodities Ltd. headquartered in Stephen, MN. The transaction closed on June 30. “We are excited to welcome the D&D team into the Central Garden & Pet organization,” said Tim Cofer, CEO of Central. “Adding D&D’s well-known and trusted premium bird feed brands solidifies our position in this attractive category and will strengthen our footprint with key retail customers.” Established in 1987, D&D develops, manufactures, and sells food for birds, small animals and wildlife under the 3D, Wild Delight, Better Bird and L’Avian Plus brands. The company operates three manufacturing plants in Stephen, Minn., Argyle, Minn. and Greeley, Col. and sells to large retailers, farm & feed, garden centers and online. “We are excited for this next chapter in our business as part of Central Garden & Pet,” said Scott Stinar, CEO of D&D. “Central’s resources, capabilities and expertise in the lawn and garden industries will be key to growing our business further.”

Upcoming Events

August 26, 2021 - NSA High Plains Committee Meeting; Goodland, KS
January 12-13, 2022 - NSA Research Forum; Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND

Markets at a Glance

Weekly Prices Recorded on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2021 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	28.42	64.15	63.83	-.32	58.78
West Fargo, ND	NuSun	20.05	27.25	28.00	+.75	26.75
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	20.35	27.75	28.00	+.25	27.25
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	19.95	27.05	27.40	+.35	26.30
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	20.25	27.55	27.40	-.15	26.80
Lamar, CO	High Oleic	NA	25.65	26.20	+.55	26.20

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Tuesday, July 6, 2021
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. location)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	27.19	92.15	91.83	-.32
Cotton Oil (psby)	43.54	102.15	101.83	-.32
Corn Oil	63.00	83.00	83.00	NC

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.

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