Sunflower markets mixed for this week

Old crop sunflower prices finished the week up 5 cents. New crop prices ended mixed at down 10 to up 5 cents. Markets have been rattled by trade impacting headlines that potentially could lead to lost market opportunities. The latest news was that U.S. companies would need to put up a 178.6 percent deposit on the value of sorghum shipments into China, which will effectively act as a duty and block all trade. There were also reports that some shipments of sorghum bound for China reversed course after being threaten by these anti-dumping penalties a week ago. Rumors also circulated that the Chinese have purchased soybeans from Canada. This left the trade with the impression that perhaps China is more serious about trying to find supply alternatives for soybeans. Nothing has been implemented yet, but China has threatened to add an additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for potential U.S. tariffs on Chinese products. If the 25 percent tariff kicks in, traders feel the current large U.S. soybean supply and slower demand for products will drive down new crop soybean prices as Chinese imports account for about 33 percent of the U.S. soybean production each year. Adding further pressure has been the slow corn planting pace which traders believe could add more soybean acres this spring. These events have clearly created a heavy cloud over the market.