Mixed Week For Birdseeds

VANCOUVER - Jan 29/10 - SNS -- Birdseed ingredient markets finished the week's trading under mixed conditions against seasonally light trading interest. White proso millet markets in the United States were mostly unchanged on the weak. Oil type sunflower markets managed to advance, while confectionary sunflower markets were unchanged.

SunPrairie Grain's Jeremy Burkhart adds, "Sunflowers will somewhat be affected by the soybean market as sun oil has to compete with soy oil, so this drop in soy oil prices will definitely limit the upside potential of sunflowers."

Looking at the competing crops, Burkhart said, "Corn and soybeans look to have the same bleak outlook as wheat. Corn is showing a huge carryout plus talk that we could be looking at 90 million acres this spring which would be the second highest planted acres ever recorded.

"Soybeans are looking at a record crop in 2009 for the US and South America has a whopper of a crop right now. Demand for soybeans is strong right now but this news has not helped the downslide in the price mainly because of the huge carryout in the US and world."