Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: May 13 2024

Registration is now open for our 2024 NSA Summer Seminar, scheduled for June 25-27, 2024. This year’s Summer Seminar will be held in Duluth, Minnesota. You can register on our website – go to 2024 NSA Summer Seminar (sunflowernsa.com) You’ll find our tentative schedule too, as well as hotel information and more. Pre-registration will begin at $375 and golf at $130, so register early for the best price. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Radisson Duluth Harborview. To reserve your room, call 218-481-1185 Ext. 2 using the group code G9653258. The rate is $151.00 per night plus taxes. The block of rooms will expire on May 24, 2024. The program is being finalized and more information will be coming soon. Contact Tina Mittelsteadt at tinam@sunflowernsa.com with questions.

Send us your story ideas

With another production season upon us, we at the National Sunflower Association likewise have begun planning for the next publishing season of 'The Sunflower' magazine. As always, our goal with the magazine is to provide news and articles of real interest and use to our readership which consists mainly of sunflower producers around the U.S. and Canada. Our goal, of course, is to provide information that our readers won't find elsewhere. Would you please aid us in this endeavor; over the coming weeks and months, by suggesting potential topics or persons to interview for articles? We rely upon folks such as yourself for story 'leads' and would be grateful for any suggestions you can pass along. Submit your ideas to: johns@sunflowernsa.com Thanks very much for helping us to keep 'The Sunflower' out-front in providing timely, interesting - and useful - information for its thousands of readers.

Markets

In the past week, old crop sunflower prices were unchanged with new crop unchanged to up 25 cents. Last week USDA released the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report for May, which includes the first detailed forecast for the 2024-25 soybean crop. US soybean production and ending stocks were pegged higher than the trade expected. For South American soybeans, USDA's estimates were higher than the trade expected. USDA held Argentina's production estimate steady month-over-month, and slightly lowered Brazil's production. 2024 US sunflower production was not estimated in the report. According to the USDA March Planting Intentions report, growers intend to plant 957,500 acres of sunflowers in 2024, down 27 percent from 2023. Using a trend yield, the initial estimate of 2024 US sunflower production is pegged at 1.6 billion pounds, which would represent a decrease of 29 percent from last year. Most of the reduction is anticipated in oil-type sunflowers, with intended acres at 804,000 down 31 percent from 2023. Based on intended acreage and using a trend yield, oil-type sunflower production may decline to 1.3 billion pounds in 2024 down 34 percent from last year. The USDA report showed planting of sunflower acres lower than expected by the trade. With lower than anticipated acres, diversifying market risk with some sunflower acres would be a good option in 2024.

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