Sunflower markets continue to hold firm

Old crop prices were unchanged to up 10 cents this week. The Fargo nearby price for NuSun hit $18.25 this week setting a new market high for this marketing year. Birdfood prices in some locations have begun to move up as well reaching $18.00. Nearby prices for oil-type sunflower are up about 20 percent on average from a year ago. Last year at this same time, ample supplies, strong deliveries by producers and a large old crop inventory kept the pipeline full at the crush plants, keeping a lid on prices. That’s not the case this year as a smaller 2017 crop coupled with smaller beginning stocks has the industry using up stocks to meet demand. New crop prices are also significantly higher than last year. It’s been a different story at the CBoT as soybean, meal and oil prices have tumbled the past two weeks. Traders are linking this to a higher Brazil crop estimate, concern over U.S. and China trade relations and a good start for the U.S. 2018 soybean crop. This has led the trade to take some of demand premium out of prices. Soybean and soymeal futures have dropped sharply since the early March high. Currently U.S. crops face no weather threat. This has the market focusing on trade and exports, which have been bearish.