Sunflower Highlights

Post Date: Oct 23 2023

Crop Progress - Monday, October 23, 2023

State	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Year Average
North Dakota
Mature	92	87	97	96
Harvested	24	7	37	32
South Dakota
Mature	88	81	--	--
Harvested	23	10	30	24
Minnesota
Harvested	63	36	34	45
Texas
Harvested	92	87	90	80
Kansas
Harvested	70	58	41	40
Colorado
Harvested	60	34	26	44

Crop Conditions - Monday, October23, 2023

State	Timeframe	Very Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
North Dakota	This week	2	6	29	55	8
	Last week	0	5	25	63	7
Colorado	This week	1	3	23	70	3
	Last week	0	2	20	75	3
South Dakota	This week	2	4	40	51	3
	Last week	1	3	46	47	3

Grower Report

Brighton, Colorado grower Tom Kirkmeyer says they received their first hard freeze of the season a week ago, so he plans to start harvesting in about 2 weeks what is left after Rhizopus, and head rot took hold of 50% or more of his crop. Initially his crop was looking very good until the disease took hold. He had no problem with insects but did spray for red sunflower seed weevil. The weather has been warm and dry. They have not had any substantial precipitation since the first part of September.

Markets

Nearby prices at the crush plants are down 25 to 70 cents this week. Large seed deliveries are creating pressure on nearby prices at the crush plants. Harvest pressure is normal at this point of the new marketing year. Currently the deferred contract prices are encouraging producers to put the crop in the bin and deliver after the initial harvest rush. Something else to consider is the oil premiums that crush plants pay on sunflowers. Sunflower is the only oilseed that pays premiums for oil content above 40%. Considering oil premiums that 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%; this pushes a contract with 45% oil content gross return 10% higher per cwt. Another week of largely clear weather allowed sunflower harvest progress to advance. About 30% of sunflowers were in the bin as of last week, up from 15% seven days earlier and slightly ahead the prior five-year average of 29% for this time of year, the USDA said. In the past week, producers harvested an additional 185,850 acres pushing 2023 harvested acres to about 362,450 acres. A pattern change is expected to arrive in the Northern Plains this week as active weather returns with rainfall and wintry precipitation possible. This will make it more difficult to get harvest done in a timely manner.

Call for Papers

Here’s your chance to be a part of the National Sunflower Association’s Research Forum. We are looking for research papers to be presented at the NSA Research Forum, set for January 10-11, 2024, in Fargo, ND. Presentations may be either oral or in the form of a poster. A time will be designated for authors to be with their posters and answer questions. Each oral presentation will be limited to 15-17 minutes with 2-3 minutes allowed for questions. Visit 2024 Call for Papers (sunflowernsa.com) if you are interested in presenting a paper. You do not have to submit the actual paper or poster at this time, just the information indicated online and the author information. Submissions must be completed by December 11, 2023.

Sunflower exports decline in 2022/23 marketing year

Exports of kernel are down 27% from a year ago, from 3,918 metric tons (MT) to 2,870 MT from October 2022 to August 2023. Canada remains the top importer of U.S. sunflower kernel, importing 1,740 MT. In-shell exports decreased 25% from 17,361 MT to 13,027 MT from October 2022 to August 2023. Mexico remains the top importer of in-shell sunflower, importing 5,244 MT with Spain a close second importing 3,647 MT during the period. Sunflower oil exports are down 43% from a year ago, from 51,098 MT to 29,260 MT from October 2022 to August 2023. Canada remains the top importer, importing 18,859 MT down 50% from a year ago. Mexico is the number two destination importing 4,334 MT during the period.

Upcoming Events

January 10-11, 2024 - NSA Research Forum; Holiday Inn; Fargo, ND
June 25-27, 2024 - NSA Summer Seminar; Duluth, MN

Markets at a Glance

Weekly Prices Recorded on Monday, October 23, 2023 ($/CWT)

	Deliver	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change	2024 NEW Crop
Chicago Oil	Nearby	71.87	55.90	51.94	-3.96	48.84
West Fargo, ND	NuSun	27.10	NQ	NQ	NC	NQ
West Fargo, ND	High Oleic	27.10	17.00	16.75	-.25	NQ
Enderlin, ND	NuSun	26.15	16.20	15.50	-.70	NQ
Enderlin, ND	High Oleic	27.15	17.20	16.50	-.70	NQ
Lamar, CO	High Oleic	28.00	17.75	17.50	-.25	NQ

U.S. CRUDE OIL VALUES recorded on Monday, October 23, 2023
(dollars per 100 lb. internal U.S. locations)

	Last Year	Last Week	This Week	Change
Soybean Oil	78.37	61.40	57.44	-3.96
Cotton Oil (pbsy)	121.87	90.90	86.94	-3.96
Corn Oil	124.00	72.00	72.00	unch

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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