Solid Finish For Birdseeds

VANCOUVER - Jan 11/08 - SNS -- Birdseed ingredient markets finished the week's trading on a generally firmer note, with prices for canaryseed and sunflower seed posting solid week over week gains.

White proso millet markets seemed to be weighed down by the reality of a larger U.S. harvest, pegged at 376,826 metric tons (MT), up 63% from the 231,221 MT grown in 2006 and 22% higher than the 310,034 MT produced in 2005.

Sunflower seed markets are supported by competition for land from corn, wheat and soybean; as well as oilseed sector strength. Markets were unmoved by the USDA's final production estimates for 2007. It pegged total output at 2.89 billion pounds, up 35% from 2006 but down 28% from 2005.

U.S. production of oil-type sunflower varieties, at 2.50 billion pounds, increased 40% from 2006. Harvested acres are up 13% from the previous year and the yield increased by 273 pounds to 1,454 pounds per acre. A record high yield for oil type sunflower varieties in Texas was set at 1,700 pounds per acre.

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