Sunflower Area Expanding 8%

WASHINGTON - Jun 30/14 - SNS -- Sunflower in the United States this year are expected to end up around 1.71 million acres, up 8% from 2013, according to the USDA's seeded area report for 2014. Harvested area is expected to increase 11% from last year to 1.63 million acres.

It worth noting that some market participants think the final area will be higher as farmers in states where seeding is delayed switch from other crops ino sunflower.

Planted area of oil type varieties, at 1.34 million acres, is up 5% from 2013, but is the third lowest since 1976. Planted area of oil varieties in Kansas is the lowest since records began in 1988 and the third lowest since 1976 in North Dakota. Planted acreage of non-oil varieties, estimated at 368,000 acres, is up 24% from last year.

Planting conditions were generally much improved compared with last year when cool spring temperatures and wet conditions hampered planting. As of June 1, 26% of the intended crop was planted in the four major States, 12 percentage points ahead of last year but 7 percentage points behind the 5-year average. At that time, planting progress in Kansas and South Dakota was within one percentage point of normal, whereas progress in Colorado and North Dakota was at least 10 percentage points behind normal. As of June 22, producers had planted 83% of the crop in the four major States, 8 percentage points ahead of last year but slightly behind the 5-year average.