Sunflower markets

After a somewhat slow start, 2020 sunflower crop progress has caught up to the five-year average in North Dakota and Minnesota. Seventy-three percent of the sunflower crop earned good to excellent ratings as of this week, down 1% from the previous week. It is a different story in Colorado where drought is affecting crop conditions and most of the crop is in fair condition according to USDA. Birdfood prices took a breather after the recent surge and finished the week unchanged. Birdfood bids are trading at $28.00 to $30 in South Dakota. North Dakota birdfood prices were trading for as much as $27.50 in some locations. Commodity traders are closely watching the decline in the U.S. dollar, which has dropped to its lowest level in almost two years against a basket of major currencies and is likely to weaken further. This is positive news for exports making U.S. agriculture products more competitive on the world market. Traders are also getting into position for USDA’s August crop reports. Aug. 12 will be a huge day for commodity markets as USDA will release its latest supply and demand reports and first report of FSA certified acres. The FSA figures will be compared to the USDA June acreage report and will give the market a better idea of what got planted this year. USDA reports and weather conditions will guide traders in the coming weeks.